Conclusion: Like an Open Book

Abstract

This chapter aims to demonstrate the broad benefit of a networked model of adaptation through an exploration of adaptation in contemporary visual art. As I have discussed in previous chapters, adaptation networks reveal the numerous ways in which readers engage with works and make them meaningful. This chapter considers adaptation as a strategy for personal meaning-making through the examination of work by two contemporary visual artists: that of the collaborative team of Tim Rollins and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival), and that of visual performance artist Tim Youd. Both have created visual art based on classic works of literature and situate their work within a larger network of literary appreciation and critical commentary, albeit via very different methodologies, motivations, and visual styles. Many of the works discussed in this book are what Brian Rose calls “culture-texts” (1996), and, as such, they might seem more receptive to a networked model of adaptation than a new work with comparatively limited adaptation history. To indicate the merit of the network model more fully, I turn to Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel Room, which she adapted to the screen for the 2015 film of the same name, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, and show how its development and reception have been shaped from the outset by an adaptation network that generates and reiterates specific narrative moments and iconography.