This module is about the changing relations between literature and film from the nineteenth century to the present day. We will start with short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann and Edgar Allan Poe, two writers who sensed the coming of the movies ahead of time, and conclude with a consideration of our own contemporary media-saturated environment where books, movies, and comics continuously feed off and into each other. Each week will focus on a particular encounter between the two media. We will examine how their relationship has been as hostile and exploitative as it has been interdependent and mutually enriching. Apart from studying particular adaptations, we will also consider how the two media have adapted to each other: how literature provided film with a rich source of stories and storytelling techniques, but also how film altered the kinds of stories writers told, and how they told them. Finally, the module asks why it is that so many contemporary films are about books and readers?
Module Supervisor: Prof. Karin Littau
Module Supervisor: Prof. Karin Littau
- Module Supervisor: Karin Littau