WOMEN IN THE WESTERN Ed. Sue Matheson. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2020. 360 pp. $110.00 hardcover.

Abstract

streaming media: this is what happens when Jackson’s short novel becomes a Netflix property. To fill hours of programming, The Haunting of Hill House needs to be greatly expanded; to fit into the existing mold the story must incorporate a steady dose of jump scares and Stranger Things–style cliffhangers; to invite repeat screenings it needs a host of webpage-baiting Easter eggs (hello Russ Tamblyn!). Indeed, a more transparent Netflix would have used this book’s title itself. The issue extends beyond curmudgeonly grumbling about this series’ lack of fidelity, or wrongheadedly advocating for a return to those barren “fidelity” days of adaptation studies. Even more address from the contributors on the union of Netflix—and other streaming services—with literary properties would have been welcome (but please note that this volume does not condemn such discussion). It seems almost as though artists like Flanagan, and audiences, can conform with the dictates of streaming media culture or abandon new audio-visual media completely. It is not only Jackson fans, Henry James aficionados, or English professors who are anxious about a future littered with literary adaptations that feel more like The Mandalorian (2019–) than the seemingly annual BBC versions of Austen novels. Or, though Austen’s work survived a zombie invasion, must we rejoice in Baby Yoda gifs from the next Pride and Prejudice? Paul N. Reinsch Texas Tech University