Simone Murray (2012) THE ADAPTATION INDUSTRY. The Cultural Economy Of Contemporary Literary Adaptation. (Routledge Research In Cultural and Media Studies) London, Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415-99903-8 © Review Patrick Cattrysse – (30-11-2011) In this book, Simone Murray proposes to ‘materialise’ the study of adaptation. The author argues that until now adaptation studies has predominantly focused on textual analysis. In order to complement such an approach, Murray proposes a ‘sociology’ of adaptation that encompasses the extra-textual dimensions of adaptation. Referring to Pierre Bourdieu’s notions of ‘field of cultural production’ and ‘agent’, Murray distinguishes six ‘agents’ or ‘key stakeholders’ within the current Anglophone adaptation industry: the literary authors; the literary agents; the book fairs, fi lm festivals and writer’s weeks; the literary prize-winners; the screenwriters; and the film producers and distributors. The author explores each stakeholder in a separate chapter and concludes in an afterword with some remarks on two more recent forms of adaptation: fan fiction and fan made movies. Joining a more recent trend in media studies that focuses on what Jenkins (2006) et. al. have called ‘convergence culture’, the study offers a wealth of information about the Anglo- phone book industry, and how in several of its key sections, it has adapted to the increasing conglomeration of single medium worlds, - such as the book world -, into multinational, multimedia or multiple platform worlds or corporations. Chapter one explores among other things the professionalization of literary authorship since the end of the 19 th century, the rise of the ‘celebrity writer figure’, and the marketing of the literary authorial name a s a brand. Writers promote their work and make all sorts of efforts (e.g. appearing on the red carpet of film festivals, making cameo appearances in adaptations, ...) to draw the attention of potential adapters. Some of them even manage to a greater or lesser degree to be involved in the adaptation project, - ranging from selling rights to becoming a screenwriter or even an executive producer. Chapter two describes how throughout the 1980’s, literary agents legitimised their position in between writers and publishers. Some more successful literary agents became celebrities in their own right and developed as powerful brokers in the contemporary book world and – via the currency of book rights – in the broader media sphere. Chapter three explains how some major book fairs worked at rebranding themselves as cross-format rights marketplaces. Encounters which used to be occasional between the book world, the film world and the media world in general are more and more orchestrated and organised through cooperation, joint hosting of events and co-branding initiatives. Chapter four presents a detailed case study of the Man Booker Prize to suggest rather unsurprisingly that literary prizes such as the Man Booker Prize may have an impact on the chances of a book being adapted. And chapter six finally explores among other things how some ‘specialist distributors’, such as Miramax, have marketed literary values to tertiary- educated, culturally cosmopolitan, frequently affluent audiences who purportedly offer a ‘neat demographic fit with the phenomenon of literary adaptation’ (p.163).