A book for film and literature buffs alike, Cinema and Fiction looks at the successes and failures of film adaptions of well known novels over the last forty years. Written as a guide to assist teachers of the subject, most of the essays contain detailed textual readings of either book or film, or both, while the remainder raise more general issues about the nature of literary adaptation. Wider questions on the differences in adaptation between the American and European cinema are also highlighted, and 1984, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Shining, Empire of the Sun and Dune are among the films and novels discussed.