Комикс Н. Батлер Гордость и предубеждение как вариант прочтения одноименного романа Дж. Остин

Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Язык и литература. 2020. Т. 17. № 2. С. 217–231.

Tsvetkova M. V., Кризская Е. В.

Comic book adaptations of classics have become more and more popular as a genre of mass

culture.  No  wonder,  that  their  creators  turned  to  such  a  cult  author  as  Jane  Austen.  In  the  article,  the  reasons  of  the  interest  to  her  novel  “Pride  and  Prejudice” by  the  mass  culture,  as  well  as  by  Butler,  who  wrote  the  script  for  the  adaptation,  are  investigated.  The  types  of  the  major transformations of the original are defined and the reasons of their introduction, either caused by such genre features of comics as dynamism, visual orientation, segmentation etc., or by the nature of mass literature are described. The comparative analysis of the novel and its adaptation shows that the adaptation lacks the specific style characteristic of Jane Austen’s work as the author’s commentary is reduced to its minimum. The description of everyday life, the psychological depth and plot complexity are contracted all the attention is focused on the love line, the episodes and characters not connected with Darcy — Elizabeth relationships are omitted. The portraits of the characters are drawn in the grotesque “Marvel” production style, which simplifies the characters making them “flat”. However, the adaptations of literary classics become a good way of popularization of the “high-brow” literature: the readers’ responses show that more than 60 % of them felt urged to read the novel after getting acquainted with its adaptation.

Keywords: comics, комикс, Jane Austen, Nancy Butler, "Pride and Prejudice", Джейн Остин, Нэнси Батлер, "Гордость и предубеждение"