Old stories, new voices: The art and ambiguity of literary adaptation

By Rod Benson At its best, literature is a conversation across cultures and generations. Writers inherit plots, characters, genres and conventions, then reshape them for different audiences. Yet contemporary retellings of Shakespeare, myth and the novel provoke a genuine question: do they tend to reveal neglected possibilities and navigate unexplored depths in classic works, or …

Fiction and the language of power

Who gets to name the world? By Rod Benson Imagine a government announcing that it will โ€œright-sizeโ€ a service. The phrase sounds responsible, yet tells us little. Will people lose their jobs? Will a hospital close? Who decided what the โ€œrightโ€ size is? The wording has not concealed every fact, but it has delayed the …