Literature on Screen

The Wall Street Journal takes note of the rise of literature we're finding in TV and movies.

From the piece...

"Parade's End" may test viewers' appetites for highbrow fare at a time when HBO and other networks are snapping up literary rights. As Hollywood has increasingly shied away from difficult literary works in favor of blockbuster comic-book reboots and sequels, a growing number of novels are coming to television instead. Gary Shteyngart is adapting his dark futuristic satire "Super Sad True Love Story" as a cable series with Media Rights Capital, the independent studio behind the Netflix series "House of Cards." Showtime is developing a series based on Seth Greenland's comic novel "The Angry Buddhist."

HBO has a handful of novels in development, including works by William Faulkner, Jeffrey Eugenides's multigenerational family drama "Middlesex," Neil Gaiman's fantasy epic "American Gods" and Tom Perrotta's quiet dystopian novel "The Leftovers."

"You can make a really complex narrative for a sophisticated audience, which is sometimes hard to do in a feature-film world," says Mr. Perrotta, who is co-writing the script for "The Leftovers," about the aftermath of a Rapture-like mass disappearance, with "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof.