Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-20)

Topic

Fans and Fictions: Adaptation as Critique in Lit &

Instructors

Jennifer Comerford

Meeting Info

University Hall 318: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

Though we often think of fan fiction as an advent of our contemporary moment, fan fiction extends at least as far back as the eighteenth century. Fans and fictions have increasingly shaped the way we encounter literature, animating works from the past with different agendas, desires, and needs that speak to the contemporary moment. This course explores texts and the adaptations they inspire. We will think about how adaptations not only comment on and critique earlier texts, but also how they might inspire us to encounter the original text in new ways. How might we regard adaptations as standalone works, with lives and afterlives of their own? From modern reworkings of Shakespeare to critical retellings of Austen, adaptations ask us to consider how familiar stories might be leveraged to address different audiences. We will also explore some related concerns around fan fiction including fandoms and fan culture, the death of the author, and approaching work created by problematic authors.

Class Materials (Required)

William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew (1594) and Ten Things I Hate About You (1999), Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe (1719) and J. M. Coetzee, Foe (1986), Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813), Jo Baker, Longbourn (2013), and Fire Island (2022), Jane Austen, Emma (1815) and Clueless (1995), Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818) and Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (1992), Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847) and Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), Howard's End and Zadie Smith, On Beauty (2005), Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl (2013).

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area