Literature and Film (Eng 231): Spring 2012

Course Description & Objectives

Course Focus:

English 231, Literature and Film, examines adaptations of textual narratives into film. In order to provide some thematic focus for our study, we will explore in particular representations of violence in the 20th century (colonialism, war, and genocide). We will consider both different contexts (African imperialism, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda), as well as differing degrees of adaptation --from those films that constitute more or less faithful renditions of the texts, to those that merely share a common subject matter. In addition, as an introduction to the sophisticated analysis of the medium, we shall begin the semester with one of the great films of all time in terms of cinematography, Orson Welles's 1941 Citizen Kane.

Special note: we will view the first two films (Citizen Kane and The Reader) in class; you will be responsible for viewing Apocalypse Now and Hotel Rwanda on your own. Plan accordingly.

Goals for 200-level General Education Literature Courses:

• Help students develop an appreciation of the intellectual benefits of reading literature and an interest in reading literary works;
  
  
• Help students develop analytical skills through close readings of literary texts;
  
  
• Help students develop a respect for the multiplicity of valid responses to literary texts;
  
  
• Help students develop basic literary research skills;
  
  
• Help students develop the abilities necessary to write effective prose.

Research & Writing:

Because our focus is not the passive consumption of literature and film but an active, critical response to them, we will engage in research and writing as they relate to our subject matter. You will be required to conduct academic research, based on the skills introduced in WBIS or its equivalent (a prerequisite to this course). As such, familiarity with basic university-level research and documentation methods is required, and students will be expected to manifest competency in the skills needed to produce university-level written analyses on topics in the Humanities.