This essay examines the many methods involved in adapting a literary text into an opera libretto and specifically how Angela Carter's novel The Passion of New Eve was made into the opera Tristessa. This study demonstrates the several processes involved in writing a libretto. This specific kind of literary work includes finding a useful source text, deciding what part of the story that needs to be in the libretto and what can be excluded, and transforming the narration into a text suitable for singing. The lack of adaptation theory for opera has steered me toward theories developed for film adaptations and scholarly texts that are concerned with how adaptation into opera functions. However, this essay's main interest is how well the two (male) librettists succeeded in keeping the novel's clear feminist and queer themes when transferring the text into the libretto. Therefore, not only adaptation theory is used in this essay. Feminist theory and queer theory have given several insights into both the novel and the opera Interviews conducted with the librettists allow for an understanding of their reasoning and working process. Using feminist and queer theories as conterpoints to the reading of the libretto of Tristessa and comparing it to the novel The Passion of New Eve this essay has found that the novel is well suited for adaptation, that queer elements are a natural part of the art of opera, and that the opera Tristessa is indeed both feminist and queer. One could expect a shift in the narration from the novel's story because of the title being Tristessa. That is not so but the cuts and additions that have been made enhance the story of Tristessa as well as the story of Evelyn's transgression into Eve.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-45927 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Lindström Emilson, Malin |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för lärande, humaniora och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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