New journal meets at the intersection of cinema and literature
February 16, 2022
Dr. Marie Pascal, Assistant Professor of French (LTA), has founded a new journal, Transcr(é)ation. The specialty journal is dedicated to discussing adaptations of texts in films and TV series, without prioritizing one over the other.
Dr. Pascal saw a gap in academic journals dedicated to cinema adaptations as well as the absence of bilingual journals. While there are many movies and TV series being produced as adaptations, research concerning the intersections between film and text as well as any other intermedial dialogue has not advanced to where adaptation is considered a full-fledged discipline.
In her own research, she often has had to determine whether an article concerned literature or film studies because she felt it pertained to both fields. She decided to launch Transcr(é)ation so that scholars would have the opportunity to discuss the intersection between text and films.
Each article will be published in English and French, which Dr. Pascal hopes will allow scholars to reach a broader audience. She was “delighted” to hire a brilliant bilingual student who will work as translator.
She says there has been support from the King’s and greater community. Dr. Pascal has received assistance from a librarian at Western who helped set up the basics for the journal’s website, an illustrator who created a logo and a student from the computer studies department who improved the website’s look and global organization – “all essential to contribute to the image the journal needs to establish in order to stand out.”
“I am so grateful that I have already been joined by many colleagues - both from King's and my previous lives - to contribute to the editorial team, proving the enterprise to be much needed. I feel a very good energy in our department, in favour of the enterprise. My colleagues have been, from the very beginning, extremely encouraging and resourceful, and I certainly would not have dared start this project without their support,” says Dr. Pascal.
Proposals can be sent to transcreation.journal@gmail.com by March 15, 2022. The first volume, about the theories of adaptation, is planned for August 2022. The second issue will focus on adapting comics and graphic novels on screen and be published in 2023. There will also be general section, “Varia”, for articles that don’t fit into the theme of the issue.
Submissions to Transcr(é)ation will be evaluated on their quality and originality. The journal editors are not concerned with the affiliation or rank of the contributors; M.A. and PhD students are therefore encouraged to submit articles.
“I would be delighted if the journal inspired some of our students to read more, and to refine their interpretative skills of arts, in any shape. Analysing the adaptation of a text into a new medium is indeed a very rewarding enterprise for the young thinkers our students are, as it is for us scholars in so many fields - sociology, philosophy, history, women’s studies, etc.,” says Dr. Pascal.