E.M Hull’s The Sheik (1919) and its 1921 Hollywood Adaptation as Ambivalent and Intertextual Texts
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-ouzou
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to probe the social and textual references that shaped the contours
of Edith Maude Hull’s The Sheik and its 1921 Hollywood adaptation. The study of the
adaptations and transformations of pre-existing sources that the two texts expose is what
urged the use of the theory of intertextuality, as suggested by both Julia Kristeva and Gérard
Genette. The second goal of this study is to gauge the ambivalence of the colonial discourse,
as adopted by Hull and adapted by the film director, George Melford. The manifestation and
recurrence of the double representation of the Algerian Desert, “the gate of the desert”
(Biskra) and its inhabitants and the persistence of the strategy of “Mimicry” have all been
highlighted by referring to Homi K. Bhabha’s post colonial theory of ambivalence. After
using the two theories, I come to two outstanding conclusions. First, both the novel and movie
cannot be probed as single entities and/ or original texts because they compile pre-existing
sources. Second, the colonial discourse adopted by Hull and adapted by Melford is
inconsistent as it is fraught with contradictions and ambiguity.
Description
101p.; 30 cm.; + (CD-Rom)
Keywords
Intertextual Texts, Ambivalent
Citation
Cultural Studies