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Written as a final project for 19th Century American Literature, this work is an attempt at a literary response to Daisy Miller. It is not an adaptation, but rather a piece of fiction in conversation with James’ work— through more overt intertextual references, as well as plot/narratives that engage with relevant themes or theses. Thank you in advance for your time!
Blurb:
“You” are a student journalist, and someone who has read a portion of the canon. You arrive at this small town meaning to do a piece on it; they’ve just produced a viral adaptation of Daisy Miller. The town isn’t an Utopian model or a direct inversion of modern society— it’s just a town, with cultural and historical differences from your own, as any other town. It isn’t a rural town either, it’s rather 21st-century developed, if geographically a bit isolated. Only, there are the “Things”, the human-shaped shadow entities. In the local society, they function in a sort of role as men would in a patriarchal society; not exaggeratedly so, but structurally they are in a more dominant power role; and they aren’t a monolith, they differ very much Thing to Thing. There are rules to follow, of course, when interacting with them... and consequences if those rules are broken. You are brought around town, interacting with the locals, and understanding more about the “Things”.
Inspiration:
My first encounter with the idea of exploring an academic argument via fiction was Rebecca Staffords’ Mercury (a novella) and critical essay, Cycles of Sickness: the role of the abject in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde and the Millennial Zombie Outbreak Narrative.
Also, in retrospect, the setting and presentation of my piece of fiction was likely influenced by my having been reading Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness (which can be read as a response to Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth) while writing.
More consciously, with respect to discussions about the objectification of women, I was inspired by Sofia Isella’s song “The Doll People”.