magiadoreal

By Dana Stevens The point is to dwell even more deeply in the imaginary space the book opens up, to love it in a different way. Dana Stevens Credit Illustration by R. Kikuo Johnson Envisioning the movie version of a beloved book is at once an act of tenderness and of violence. Even as you recognize that the thought experiment is likely to end in failure, you find yourself mentally casting the main characters, finessing the details of costume and production design, maybe even framing the opening shot. No film that commits the crass act of existing could compare with the one that takes shape in your mind as you read, a project unbeholden to the demands of budget or box-office draw or, indeed, the laws of time and space. (Want to cast Cary Grant opposite Cate Blanchett in a screwball update of “Pride and Prejudice”? Have at it.) Nor should the knowledg