Introducing ways in which written texts are reimagined, adapted and transformed by creative artists, including writers, theatre makers, choreographers and film directors, this module explores in both theory and practice the relationship between page and stage, word and image, and in doing so enables you to explore creative imagination at its most radical and relevant.
How and why do television dramas such as Sherlock and Elementary create dramatic interventions into established narratives? How has innovative, controversial and experimental work made by contemporary playwrights such as Caryl Churchill, debbie tucker green and Sarah Kane drawn on classic texts to challenge and alter our perceptions of the world? What does The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter's creative appropriation of various fairy tales, reveal about this genre and by extension what does Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves tell us both about Carter's stories and the tales that informed them?
Questions such as these, addressed in a series of interrelated case studies, will enable you to examine the practices and negotiations involved in work of transition and appropriation. You will develop skills in textual analysis required for writing effective argumentative essays that engage with diverse literary and cultural materials. In addition, the module will harness and develop your creative skills: through a series of workshops you work on short creative writing and group performance projects that respond to the texts and contexts introduced on the module.
The aims of this module are to:
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
The module will be taught in a series of three-hour seminars / workshops. These weekly sessions are flexible so as to allow detailed exploration of both literary and cultural texts, creative exercises and workshop activities, and may include presentations by the module leader and peer-led discussions.
| Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 66 | |
| Guided independent study | 234 | |
| Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 | |
Assessment for this module comprises three summative elements.
The first is a reading and performance log (30%) which will be comprised of entries produced on a weekly basis, and which will respond to the set reading and, later in the module, in response to the group performance. The log will encourage students to engage with a variety of written texts and adaptations, and to reflect on the processes involved in producing performances.
The second is a short (1,200 to 1,500-word) essay (35%) which will be submitted toward the end of the module. The essay will allow students to explore the varied contexts which inform the processes of adaptation and to develop their powers of textual analysis.
The third is a creative writing portfolio (35%), made up of elements arising from the writing workshops
In addition, there will several opportunities for formative feedback. Students will be invited to submit to their tutor short critical responses on different set texts for feedback in preparation for their essay. Weekly seminar discussion and activities in workshops will provide further opportunities for formative feedback.
| Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
|---|---|
| 1) introduce a range of written texts and adaptations in a variety of forms | Reading and performance log; essay |
| 2) demonstrate a critical awareness of cultural, historical, political and methodological contexts which inform the processes of adaptation | Essay |
| 3) effectively analyse written texts and performances | Reading and performance log; essay |
| 4) examine and experiment with practical and critical techniques used by creative writers and apply them to students' own creative practice | Reading and performance log; creative writing portfolio |
| Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Written exam | 0 | |
| Practical exam | 0 | |
| Coursework | 100 | |
| Total (to equal 100%) | 100% | |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.
Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A Scandal in Bohemia'
Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber
Shakespeare, Coriolanus
debbie tucker green, Dirty Butterfly
Cardwell, Sarah, Adaptation Revisited: Television and the Classic Novel (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002)
Cartmell, Deborah, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Corrigan, Timothy, Film and Literature: An Introduction and Reader (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999)
Giddings, Robert and Erica Sheen, The Classic Novel: From Page to Screen (Manchester: MUP, 2000)
Hutcheon, Linda, A Theory of Adaptation (London: Routledge, 2006)
McFarlane, Brian, Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).
Naremore, James, Film Adaptation (London: Athlone, 2000)
Sanders, Julie, Adaptation and Appropriation, New Critical Idiom (London: Routledge, 2005)
Stam, Robert and Alessandra Raengo, eds, Literature and Film: A guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation (Malden: Blackwell, 2005).
Sutherland, John, 'Book of the film? Film of the book?' in How to Read a Novel: A User's Guide (London: Profile, 2006).
Whelelan, Imelda, ed., Adaptations: from text to screen, screen to text (London: Routledge, 1999)