A study of South African literature and film with a focus on adaptation of literary texts to the screen. We pay particular attention to the ways in which the political, economic, and cultural forces of colonialism and apartheid have shaped contemporary South African literature and film: for what purposes do South African filmmakers adapt novels, biographies and memoirs to the screen? How do these adaptations help us visualize the relationship between power and violence in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa?

Offered as RES 264 and WLT 264. Focuses on close reading of the major novels, short fiction, and journalism of Dostoevsky, one of the greatest writers in modern literature. Combining penetrating psychological insight with the excitement of crime fiction, Dostoevsky’s works explore profound political, philosophical, and religious issues, in a Russia populated by students and civil servants, saints and revolutionaries, writers and madmen.

Offered as CLS 260 and WLT 260. Whose work are you reading when you encounter a text in translation? How is the author’s voice modulated through the translator’s? What constitutes a "faithful" or a "good" translation? How do the translator’s language and culture, the expectations of the target audience, and the marketplace determine what gets translated and how? We consider different translations of the same text, including rogue translations, adaptations and translations into other forms (opera, musicals, film). Students produce their own translations or adaptations. WLT 150 recommended.

Offered as WLT 203 and ENG 203. Chrétien de Troyes’s Yvain; Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra; Cervantes’ Don Quixote; Lafayette’s The Princesse of Clèves; Goethe’s Faust; Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Lecture and discussion. Students interested in comparative literature and/or the foundations of Western literature and wanting a writing-intensive course should take WLT 203/ENG 203, WLT 202/ENG 202 or both. Enrollment limited to 20.

Offered as WLT 178 and SPN 178. This course focuses on fictional portraits of iconoclastic translators and/or interpreters. The first two months are devoted to a (relatively) "slow reading" of Don Quijote as a pioneer text in terms of attributing a central role to a fictional translator. The third month is devoted to international films and short stories--largely, but not exclusively, from the Spanish-speaking world, which has experienced a remarkable upsurge of "transfictions" (i.e., fictions about translators) since the ‘90s. Taught in English.

We hear and read translations all the time: on television news, in radio interviews, in movie subtitles, in international bestsellers. But translations don’t shift texts transparently from one language to another. Rather, they revise, censor and rewrite original works, to challenge the past and to speak to new readers. We explore translation in a range of contexts by hearing lectures by experts in the history, theory and practice of translation. Knowledge of a foreign language useful but not required. S/U only. Can be taken concurrently with FRN 295.

An examination of the rewritings and adaptations of the three iconic figures of Shakespeare’s The Tempest—Caliban the demi-devil savage other, Sycorax the devil-whore, and Miranda the virgin-goddess—by writers from different geographies, time periods and ideological persuasions. Using texts such as Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest, Rachel Ingalls’ Mrs.

Offered as WLT 330 and TSX 330. The capstone seminar brings together a cohort of concentrators to discuss a final translation project that each student undertakes with the guidance of their adviser in the concentration and to situate the project within the framework of larger questions that the work of translation elicits.

The integration of the design elements of line, texture, color, gesture and movement into unified production styles. Further study of the history of clothing, movement in costume, construction techniques and rendering. Production work may be required outside of the class meeting time. Prerequisites: THE 254. Instructor permission required.

This course further explores light as a tool to illuminate, sculpt and articulate ideas and their execution on and off stage. We examine various contemporary approaches to designing for a diverse range of performing arts such as drama, dance, concert and opera. We also probe light as an expressive medium in creative realms beyond theatrical venues, and investigate its role in cinematography, digital animation, architecture, interior design, industrial design, etc.