Klein, Michael

(1939– )

   Educated at the University of Rochester, the University of California, Berkeley, and Sussex University in England, Michael Klein was on the faculty of Rutgers University when he edited (with Gillian Parker) The English Novel and the Movies (Frederick Ungar, 1981), which included his chapter on BARRY LYNDON, “Narrative and Discourse in Kubrick’s Modern Tragedy. ” Klein examines the way STANLEY KUBRICK “both compressed and expanded” WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY’s original text. Such changes “alter the proportion of the narrative, shifting our attention to scenes in which Barry is a victim and hence more sympathetic. ” Although only one-tenth of the novel concerned Barry’s downfall, a quarter of Kubrick’s film is devoted to Barry’s “misfortune and distress. ” Kubrick’s “minimalist narrative” establishes a “double vision” in which Barry as an 18th-century character is secondary to “Barry as a figure of modern alienation. ”

   J. M. W.