E310 l Literature, Film, and Other Arts

Instructor: Kornhaber, Do. Areas: VAPA

Unique #: 34315-34350 Flags: n/a
Semester: Fall 2019 Restrictions: n/a
Cross-lists: n/a Computer Instruction: No

Time and Location: TTH 2:00-3:30PM MEZ 1.306

Prerequisites: One of the following: E 303C (or 603A), RHE 306, 306Q, or T C 303C (or 603A)

Description: Literature and film are often regarded as sister arts, though the familial bond is not always congenial. In this course,
we will look across these two related art forms to discover the overlaps, parallels, and divergences that mark their century-long
special relationship. Moving beyond a study of direct adaptation, this class will consider broader issues of influence, expansion, and
extrapolation in the exchange of material and modalities between these sometimes competing, sometimes collaborative narrative
forms. The course will be organized chronologically around a survey of some of the preeminent directors and films of the twentieth
century, in each case preceded by a detailed consideration of those authors and literary works that most influenced these classic
filmmakers and their films. We will consider at length the multitudinous ways in which literature and film have remained in constant
dialogue across centuries and even continents. Literary authors to be considered include Beckett, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Salinger, and
García Márquez as well as playwrights like Shakespeare and Wilder. Directors to be considered include Chaplin, Welles, Hitchcock,
Fellini, Nichols, Kurosawa, and González Iñárritu. Through this study, students will gain valuable experience practicing different
modes of formal and narrative close reading across both textual and visual mediums, equipping them with the skills to critically
analyze texts in a variety of literary and media-driven formats. Likewise they will gain exposure to the rich history of the twentieth
century’s major films and filmmakers seen through the prism of the vast literary world from which the cinema so frequently draws.
Most importantly, students will come to understand both the connections and disconnections between these two consummate
modes of modern expression—as well as related art forms like drama—and will be encouraged to form their own critical views of
the ways in which art forms of all kinds both build on and depart from one another over time.

Literary and Dramatic Texts:

Author Title Publisher ©/ Ed.

William Shakespeare
Charles Dickens
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Thornton Wilder
J.D. Salinger
Samuel Beckett
Gabriel García Márquez
King Lear (play, c. 1606) Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare 1997 (3rd ed.)
Hard Times (novel, 1854) Penguin Classics 2003
The Great Gatsby (novel, 1925) Scribner 1995
Our Town (play, 1938) Harper Perennial 2003
The Catcher in the Rye (novel, 1951) Little, Brown, and Company 1991
Waiting for Godot (play, 1953) Grove/Atlantic 2010
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” Harper Perennial 2008
(short story, 1955) in Collected Stories

Films:

Director Title Date

Charlie Chaplin Modern Times 1936
Orson Welles Citizen Kane 1941
Alfred Hitchcock Shadow of a Doubt 1943
Federico Fellini La Strada 1954
Mike Nichols The Graduate 1967
Akira Kurosawa Ran 1985
Alejandro González Iñárritu Birdman 2014

1
Recommended Secondary Texts

Author Title Publisher Pgs.

Robert L. Carringer “Citizen Kane, The Great Gatsby, and Some Conventions of Critical Inquiry 2.2 (Winter 1975) 307-325
American Narrative”
William J. Free “Fellini’s ‘I Clowns’ and the Grotesque” Journal of Modern Literature 3.2 214-227
(April 1973)
Sarah Graham “Adaptation, Interpretation, and Influence” Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye 93-109
(Continuum, 2007)
Christopher Hoile “King Lear and Kurosawa’s Ran: Splitting, Doubling, Pacific Coast Philology 22.1/2 29-34
Distancing” (November 1987)
Donna Kornhaber “Hitchcock’s Diegetic Imagination: Thornton Wilder, Shadow Hitchcock and Adaptation 177-190
of a Doubt, and Hitchcock’s Mise-en-Scene” (Rowan & Littlefield, 2014)
Garrett Steward “Modern Hard Times: Chaplin and the Cinema of Self- Critical Inquiry 3.2 (Winter 1976) 295-314
Reflection”
Joseph Tyler “The Cinematic World of García Márquez” INTI: Revista de literatura 163-171
hispánica 16/17 (1982-1983)

Requirements & Grading:

The course includes five requirements:

1. Two mid-semester tests: 40% (20% each)

2. Final exam: 40%
3. Section attendance, participation, short assignments: 20%

Policies:

Documented Disability Statement: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations
for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or
232-2937 (video phone), or visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd.

Honor Code: The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual
opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust,
fairness, and respect toward peers and community.

Academic Integrity: Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work. For
additional information on Academic Integrity, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint.php.

Religious Holy Days: By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of a pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of
observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a
religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

Class Attendance Policy: You are expected to attend all scheduled classes and sections and arrive on time. In the event you must
miss a class, you can do so on 3 instances total without it affecting your final grade (this includes lecture and section). These 3
missed classes do not need to be excused. Beyond these 3 classes, all absences must be excused. Reasons for excused absences
include illness (with doctor’s note), team sports or approved activities, and family emergencies. Any unexcused absences beyond the
allowed 3 missed classes will lower your final class grade by 1/3 of a letter. (This does not include Religious Holy Days.)

Late Assignments Policy: Unless arrangements for an extension are made in advance with your TA due to extenuating circumstances,
late papers or assignments will be marked down 1/3 of a letter for every calendar day (not every class day) they are late.

Missed Quizzes and Exams: Students who miss an in-section / in-class assignment or test during the regular semester for an excused
absence (i.e., with a doctor’s note) will be able to make up that assignment or test during their TA’s office hours. Students with an
unexcused absence will not be able to make-up missed quizzes or exams.

2
Schedule:

Week Day Date Lecture Topic Notes

1 TH 8/29 Introduction
2 T 9/3 Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Th 9/5 Modern Times (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1936) Recommended Reading: Garrett Steward, “Modern Hard
Times: Chaplin and the Cinema of Self-Reflection,” Critical
Inquiry 3.2 (Winter 1976): 295-314.
3 T 9/10 Modern Times (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
Th 9/12 Modern Times (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
4 T 9/17 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Th 9/19 Citizen Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941) Recommended Reading: Robert L. Carringer, “Citizen
Kane, The Great Gatsby, and Some Conventions of
American Narrative,” Critical Inquiry 2.2 (Winter 1975):
307-325.
5 T 9/24 Citizen Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941)
Th 9/26 Citizen Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941)
6 M 9/30 --- First Test (administered in section)
T 10/1 Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Th 10/3 Shadow of a Doubt (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Recommended Reading: Donna Kornhaber, “Hitchcock’s
1943) Diegetic Imagination: Thornton Wilder, Shadow of a
Doubt, and Hitchcock’s Mise-en-Scene,” in Hitchcock and
Adaptation, ed. Mark Osteen (Lanham: Rowan &
Littlefield, 2014): 177-190.
7 T 10/8 Shadow of a Doubt (dir. Alfred Hitchcock,
1943)
Th 10/10 Shadow of a Doubt (dir. Alfred Hitchcock,
1943)
8 T 10/15 Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Th 10/17 La Strada (dir. Federico Fellini, 1954) Recommended Reading: William J. Free, “Fellini’s ‘I
Clowns’ and the Grotesque,” in Journal of Modern
Literature 3.2 (April 1973): 214-227.
9 T 10/22 La Strada (dir. Federico Fellini, 1954)
Th 10/24 La Strada (dir. Federico Fellini, 1954)
10 M 10/28 --- Second Test (administered in section)
10 T 10/29 The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Recommended Reading: Sarah Graham, “Adaptation,
Interpretation, and Influence,” in Salinger’s The Catcher in
the Rye (London: Continuum, 2007): 93-109.
Th 10/31 The Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967)
11 T 11/5 The Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967)
Th 11/7 The Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967)
12 T 11/12 King Lear by William Shakespeare)
Th 11/14 Ran (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1985) Recommended Reading: Christopher Hoile, “King Lear and
Kurosawa’s Ran: Splitting, Doubling, Distancing,” Pacific
Coast Philology 22.1/2 (November 1987): 29-34.
13 T 11/19 Ran (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
Th 11/21 “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” Recommended Reading: Joseph Tyler, “The Cinematic
by Gabriel García Márquez World of García Márquez” INTI: Revista de literatura
hispánica 16/17 (1982-1983): 163-171.
14 T 11/26 Birdman (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu,
2014)
Th 11/28 --- THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
15 T 12/3 Birdman (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu,
2014)
Th 12/5 Wrap-up Last class day. Final Exam administered week of 12/9.

3
Updates:

Please be advised that elements of this syllabus may be updated over the course of the semester to better reflect changing course
needs. Revised syllabi will be posted on Canvas and an email notification will be sent to all students directing them to the revised
document.

Web Site:

A Canvas site will be available for this course.