Literary Friction - Adaptation with Niven Govinden

Literary Friction

Arts

4.9 • 593 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2021

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Building on our show in 2017 with Dana Spiotta that looked at books about film, this month we want to explore what happens when books turn into films. We’ll be asking why literature is often a source for cinema, thinking about what the best adaptations get right, and remembering some of our favourite movies inspired by books. Our guest is author Niven Govinden, whose sixth novel, Diary of a Film, unfolds over the course of three days in an unnamed Italian city, where an auteur director has come to premier his latest film at a festival. It’s a love letter to the cinema, and an intense meditation on the creative process, artistic control, queer love and flaneurs. So, grab your popcorn - it will almost be like sitting in a crowded movie theatre again! Our recommended film adaptations: Octavia: Lady Macbeth, directed by William Oldroyd (https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/lady-macbeth-william-oldroyd-period-film-bones) based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov: https://www.nyrb.com/products/lady-macbeth-of-mtsensk?variant=32796791701641 Carrie: Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve (https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/11/13587262/arrival-movie-review-amy-adams-denis-villeneuve) based on the short story Story Of Your Life by Ted Chiang: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538163/arrival-stories-of-your-life-mti-by-ted-chiang/ General recommendations: Octavia: The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781933372006/the-days-of-abandonment Niven: Romance in Marseille by Claude McKay https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604955/romance-in-marseille-by-claude-mckay-edited-by-gary-edward-holcomb-and-william-j-maxwell/ Carrie: Having and Being Had by Eula Biss https://www.faber.co.uk/books/non-fiction/9780571346424-having-and-being-had.html We'll be launching our Patreon next month so keep an eye on our socials if you'd like to become a patron and support our work! Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Littery Friction.
0:10.8	I'm Carrie Plitt, and I'm here in Oxford, staring into my screen, as I pretty much always
0:16.2	am these days, but right now it is showing me the beautiful, wonderful face of my co-host Octavia Bright.
0:23.9	Hi, Octavia. How are you? Hi, Carrie. I am actually like pretty good this morning because I'm
0:31.1	looking at my window at some bright sunshine and I can see some crocuses poking up in the
0:35.8	neighbor's garden and I feel like spring is coming now.
0:39.9	Like I can't, it's undeniably coming.
0:43.3	Thank God.
0:44.1	And also my mum got her jab last week,
0:46.6	which was just this like major, major thing to know that that is like happened.
0:51.7	And I don't know.
0:52.2	I feel I'm basically, I the questing a wave of optimism very
0:54.9	tentatively and gently and I know it won't stay around but like while it's here I'm I'm on it
1:00.5	how about you yeah same actually I found out yesterday that my parents are getting their first
1:06.5	vaccine jobs next week which is really. Surprising because they're in Massachusetts
1:13.6	and there was this whole thing with the rollout. It was like getting tickets to Glastonbury,
1:17.8	but my sister somehow got through and booked them appointments. It was this whole thing.
1:23.3	And it was just such a relief and I didn't realize how much stress I was holding related to that.
1:28.8	So it's amazing.
1:30.4	Yeah.
1:30.7	I so, so identify with that.
1:32.9	It's because you're worried about them constantly, but in this really amorphous way.
	...

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