Cultures of Retelling

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

On this team-taught module, students will consider the relationships between literary texts and their various retellings, across the boundaries of form, genre, media, context, language and tradition. The module covers concerns such as literature in translation; retellings and reworkings; allusion and parody; the production and circulation of texts; and literature on film. It will also address other key factors in the lives of a text, including questions of authorship, manuscripts and editions, and the evolution of its critical reception. It introduces students to a range of theoretical issues raised by these texts, and connects with other modules on the programme including Genres and Literary Theories. Using a number of significant texts from the Classical to the contemporary periods, the module incorporates many different genres from various disciplines, draws upon a range of authors from diverse backgrounds, and explores the journeys texts make across cultures and time periods.