The Bridges of Madison County
The
Bridges of Madison County
(also published as Love in Black and White)[1] is a 1992 best-selling romance novella[2][3] by American writer Robert James Waller
that tells the story of a married Italian-American woman (WW2 ‘War bride’)
living on a Madison County, Iowa, farm in the 1960s. While her husband and children are away
at the State Fair, she engages in an affair with a National Geographic photographer from Bellingham, Washington, who is visiting Madison County to create a photographic
essay on the covered
bridges in the area. The novel is presented
as a novelization
of a true story, but it is in fact entirely fictional. The novel is one of the bestselling
books of the 20th century, with 60
million copies sold world-wide. It has also been adapted into a feature film in 1995 and a musical in 2013.
Background
Without
expecting to, Robert James Waller
conceived of The Bridges of Madison County in the early 1990s. On leave
from his teaching job at the University of Northern Iowa, Waller was photographing the Mississippi
River with a friend when he decided to
photograph Madison County, Iowa's, covered
bridges.[2] This event, alongside a song Waller wrote years earlier
about "the dreams of a woman named Francesca," gave him the idea for
the novella,[2]
which he completed in eleven days.[4] After he had written Bridges, Waller came to believe
that he had based the character of Francesca Johnson on his wife, Georgia, whom
Francesca physically resembles.
Analysis
According
to Marc Eliot, Waller's novella is a modernization of the Noël
Coward play Still Life
(1934), which was adapted into David
Lean's film Brief
Encounter (1945). Still Life is about
"the desperation, guilt, and temptations of two married people who meet,
fall in love, commit adultery,
and then separate forever."[5] In The New York Times, Brigitte Weeks said that Bridges had appealed to
"middle-aged, world-weary people" in a manner similar to the writings
of James A. Michener,
though it features more sexuality than Michener's books.[6] The Bridges of Madison County received multiple
comparisons to Erich Segal's
Love Story
(1970) for its plot and prose.[7] For Rolling
Stone, Peter
Travers said that Waller's prose was
modeled on Walt Whitman's
work, but instead resembled a greeting
card. Travers also said that Bridges
exists within a tradition of "great romantic crocks" like Pat
Conroy's The Prince of Tides (1986).[7] The New York Times
Magazine found the novella's prose
comparable to that of Jonathan Livingston
Seagull (1970) by Richard
Bach. The
Independent's Nicolette Jones found the novella
reminiscent of the books published by Mills
& Boon[1] while Owen
Gleiberman found it more similar to an
anecdote than a regular narrative.[3]
Reception
Orlando
Sentinel[2] Publishers
Weekly found The Bridges of Madison
County "Quietly powerful and thoroughly credible".[8] L.S. Klepp of Entertainment Weekly called Bridges "a short, poignant story, moving
precisely because it has the ragged edges of reality".[9] Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the novella's "compelling" story for
"elevating to a spiritual level the common fantasy in which a virile
stranger materializes in the kitchen of a quiet housewife and takes her into
his arms."[10] The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller
list in August 1992 and slowly climbed to number 1,[6] and remained on the list for over three years (164
consecutive weeks), through October 8, 1995.[11]
Film adaptation
The
Bridges of Madison County was made
into a 1995 film of the
same name, adapted by Richard LaGravenese
and directed by Clint Eastwood.
It stars Eastwood and Meryl
Streep.
Musical adaptation
Main article: The Bridges of
Madison County (musical)
The
Bridges of Madison County[12] was adapted into a Tony
Award-winning[13][14] musical with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
and the book by Marsha Norman.
The musical premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival on August 1, 2013. Directed by Bartlett
Sher, the cast featured Elena
Shaddow as Francesca and Steven
Pasquale.[15] The musical began previews on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on January 17, 2014 and officially opened on February 20,
2014 with Kelli O'Hara
as Francesca and Steven Pasquale
as Robert Kincaid. Directed by Bartlett Sher, the sets are by Michael Yeargan,
costumes by Catherine Zuber,
and lighting by Donald Holder.[16][17][18] Hunter Foster
played the role of Bud Johnson, the husband of Francesca.[19]
Theatre
In
2018, the Argentine theatrical director Luis "Indio" Romero directed
the famous actors Facundo Arana
and Araceli González
in a Spanish version of the famous work.[20]
References
· Jones, Nicolette (October 10, 1993). "BOOK
REVIEW / Cowbore of yesteryear: 'The Bridges of Madison County' - Robert James
Waller: Mandarin, 3.99 pounds".
The Independent. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
· · Grimes, William
(March 10, 2017). "Robert
James Waller, Author of 'The Bridges of Madison County,' Dies at 77". The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
· · Gleiberman, Owen
(June 9, 1995). "The
Bridges of Madison County".
Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
· · Daniel S., Levine
(March 10, 2017). "Robert
James Waller Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
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