History as Adaptation

When we consider the politics of adaptation, it is only natural that we should gravitate toward the political motives in adaptations of different kinds. In accord with Fredric Jameson’s ‘“transhistorical” imperative,’ ’Always historicize!’ (Jameson, 1982, p. 9), most of the contributors to this volume focus on placing different adaptations in historical contexts in order to unmask these political motives. Before I yield the floor to my distinguished colleagues, however, I would like to approach this subject from more or less the opposite direction. Instead of discussing the historical contexts of adaptations, I propose to discuss the status of history itself as a series of adaptations. My goal is to establish a context that foregrounds not only the historical determination of adaptation, but the adaptive nature of historiography.