Dr. P.W.J. (Peter) Verstraten

Position:
  • Lecturer
Expertise:
  • Literary studies
  • The relation of literature to other media


Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 2248
E-Mail: p.w.j.verstraten@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Institute for Cultural Disciplines, Literatuurwetenschap
Office Address: Witte Singel-complex
van Wijkplaats 2
2311 BX Leiden
Room number 2.01a

Fields of interest

- Relation between word and image, and literature and film in particular
- Questions of medium-specificity
- Modernism and postmodernism
- Narratology

Research

In my research I am guided by the idea that ‘there are certain things that novels can do and film cannot, and vice versa.’ This comparison between literature and film constitutes the principal focus of my research. By studying the common ground and the differences between these two media, increasing insight is gained into their medium-specific natures: Literature can teach us what is peculiar to film and vice versa. For example: turning a novel into a film is seldom successful when the film tries to reflect the novel as faithfully as possible. The film will have a better chance of success if the film employs its own procedures and artistic methods which may lead to the same effect as the book. In December 2006, the reference work on Film Narratology was published; it is a study developed within Literary Studies in which I ‘translated’ the narrative theory to the realm of the cinema, basing it on analyses of a wide-ranging palette of film scenes. This book is a follow-up to ‘Celluloid echoes’ (2004) a more historically oriented study, in which I initiate a ‘meeting’ between (the tradition) of film and the post-modernism movement.
Here, too, current theories within Literary Studies stimulated a fundamental revision of the rather pessimistic cultural discussion which, in the past but also still at present, characterizes the field of Film Studies. Although the encounter of film with post-modernism is quite emotionally charged, the link between film and psychoanalysis is rooted in a firm tradition. As a result of this situation the title ‘Scenes uit een huwelijk’ (Scenes from a marriage), was chosen for a volume dealing with the relationship between film and psychoanalysis, which I edited together with Sjef Houppermans and Marc de Kesel, and which appeared in November 2006. This list shows that I write predominantly about film, although I must add that my reference frame is my background as researcher in Literary Studies. This approach refers to my PhD dissertation on ‘Screening Cowboys’ defended at the University of Amsterdam in 1999, in which I examined manliness in the genre of the Western. By actually starting out with narratological analyses in which I had been trained as a Literary Scientist , I ended up with a totally different perspective on the character of the cowboy. In a classical sense, the cowboy is positioned as an empty projection screen. Ultimately, it is the internal focus which causes the silent figure to be regarded as a man with positive qualities. This focalisation ultimately makes the heroic actions of the cowboy possible during the final combat scene.

A volume in Dutch on 'Psychoanalysis and music' has appeared in november 2007, which I co-edited with Sjef Houppermans and Marc de Kesel. Forthcoming is a book on key themes in film studies with Boom as well as an English translation of film narratology, to be published by University of Toronto Press. Over the years I have published articles on films ranging from Pierrot le Fou (Godard) to Caché (Haneke), from Imitation of Life (Sirk) to Palindromes (Solondz), from Adaptation (Jonze) to Casino Royale (Campbell), from Le Mépris (Godard) to Rescue Dawn (Herzog).

Curriculum Vitae

Since 2000, I have worked at Leiden University in the Literary Studies department, currently as university lecturer (0.8 fte). From 2000 to May 2003, I also worked as a film lecturer in Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. In 2003 I taught the course ‘ Novel into film’ in a castle in Well (Limburg) of the Emerson College, an auxiliary branch of a private University from Boston. After the conferral of my doctorate at the University of Amsterdam in 1999, I worked as a quiz-editor for the IdTV television station for the programmes ‘Stop de Tijd’ (NCRV) and ‘ Triviant’  (TROS).

Teaching activities

I currently teach:

Literature and film
Film history
Introduction to Comparative Literature
Methodological Concepts in Literature and Art History (MA/Mphil, with Kitty Zijlmans)

Publications

Handboek filmnarratologie (Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2006, 224 pp.) Celluloid echo's: cinema kruist postmodernisme (Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2004, 288 pp.) Screening Cowboys: Reading 'Masculinities' in Westerns (Amsterdam: Diss., 1999, 288 pp.)

Editing: 'Scènes uit een huwelijk': Psychoanalyse & Film (Amsterdam: Dutch University Press, 2006)

Editing: Tussen Orpheus en Freud: Psychoanalyse & Muziek (Amsterdam: Dutch University Press, 2007).

ICD Web Editors
Last Modified: 20-10-2009