ENH4940

Literature and film

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

B McFarlane

12 points
* 4 hours per week
* including screening)
* First semester
* Clayton
* Available to students from all campuses

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should be able to understand two different narrational systems; analyse the processes of transposition between the two systems; and assess a range of critical and theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of adaptation.

Synopsis This subject explores the relations between literature and film largely by focusing on the phenomenon of adaptation from one medium to another. It involves consideration of how two notably different sign systems - the purely verbal and the audiovisual moving image - construct narrative, of the kinds of narrational procedures each employs, of what is transferable from the verbal to the film text and what, linked intransigently to the verbal mode, requires adaptation proper if an equivalent is sought. The subject will involve the study of two authors, Shakespeare and Austen, both of whom have been much filmed. It will draw on structuralist and semiotic theory as necessary among other possible theoretical approaches.

Assessment Class paper (2000 words): 30%
* Long essay (5000 words): 50%
* Class test (2000 words): 20%

Prescribed texts

Austen J Emma Penguin
Austen J Persuasion Penguin
Austen J Pride and prejudice Penguin
Austen J Sense and sensibility Penguin
Bordwell D and Thompson K Film art: An introduction 4th edn, McGraw-Hill
McFarlane B Novel to film: Introduction to the theory of adaptation OUP
Shakespeare W Henry IV (parts 1 and 2), Henry V Penguin
Shakespeare W Romeo and Juliet Penguin