Meta-Revision: The New Paradigm of Faustian Stories

Authors

  • Peter Getlík Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice Author
  • Markéta Andričíková Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.0000/pcn18e79

Keywords:

adaptation, Faust, film, intermediality, literature, Mephisto, meta-revision, remediation, revision, theatre

Abstract

The aim of the study is to introduce and verify the perspective of the “meta-revision” concept for an analysis of adaptations (revisions) in the intermediality discourse. The issue of meta-revisions is presented through evident moral dichotomy in Faustian stories which are frequently adapted in Western culture. Besides many Faustian adaptations that are variable in plot yet traditional in the moral manifestations, we recognise only a few cases that question the exclusivity of conventional Christian ethics. Verification of the concept of “meta-revision” is done especially through the analysis of several film structures, whereas two of them bear significant meta-revisionist features: we identify the meta-revision of cultural self-identification with the hero (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus by Terry Gilliam) and meta-revision of cultural self-identification with the villain (Mephisto by István Szabó; based on the novel by Klaus Mann). As a conclusion of the study the three distinctive aspects of meta-revision applicable in further research on adaptations are defined.

Author Biographies

  • Peter Getlík, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice

    Peter Getlík is a lecturer at the Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies and Communication at the Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. After graduation in Mass Media Communication, he earned a PhD. in Literary Studies, focusing on the intersemiotic relationship of literature, film and theatre. Among his most important scholarly works are studies Recursion and Equifinality in Relationship between Film and Theatre: Being John Malkovich (2018) and “The Notebook” by Ágota Kristóf and Its Film Adaptation: Testimony of (In)Voluntary Anaesthesia (2019) that he co-published with Markéta Andričíková.

  • Markéta Andričíková, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice

    Markéta Andričíková is a lecturer and a literary scholar at the Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies and Communication at the Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. After graduation in Slovak Language and Literature and English Language and Literature she earned a PhD. in the Theory and History of Slovak Literature. Besides many relevant studies she is the author of the monograph In the Sign of Transformation. Interpretational Studies of Authorial Tales (2013) and co-author (with Marián Andričík) of the textbook Selected Chapters from the World Literature (2015). As a chief researcher she and her team successfully finished a scientific project KEGA titled Language and Literature in Contemporary SocioCultural and Media Context, which earned excellent evaluation (2020).

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Published

2021-04-19

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2021): Communication Today 1/2021

Section

Theoretical studies

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Communication Today

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Getlík, P., & Andričíková, M. (2021). Meta-Revision: The New Paradigm of Faustian Stories. Communication Today, 12(1), 14-27. https://doi.org/10.0000/pcn18e79