Literature and other arts

We ask ourselves how the language of literature and of the stage transform themselves once put on film. We get to know the key theoretical notions of the film medium, moreover, the class examines the parallels and differences between the literary (verbal) and the film (visual) discourse. We analyze the depicted works of art from the thematic point of view and from the narrative point of view. Moreover, we are interested in characterization (depiction of the main protagonists), as well as in the external form and structure or composition.

The prerequisite to join the course is the students’ interest in film studies and literary studies, as well as adaptation studies, as the course is designed primarily as a course on films that are adaptations of literary works. The students are expected to be familiar with at least basic concepts of literary studies and the key milestones and works belonging to the history of world and Slovene filmography.

The course focuses on the interconnectedness of film and literature (including plays and comics). We observe how literary and theater texts get adapted for the screen and what that means for the actual storyline and other structural and semantic levels. The film medium has its own rules that literature does not necessarily know or follow (lighting, photography, montage, special effects,…). We pose questions related to the adaptation process. Moreover, we wonder what makes some texts e more appropriate for filmic transformation than others and why. Thus, in essence, the course combines literary studies with film and adaptation studies, which gives it an interdisciplinary frame.
Among the discussed works, there are:

To Kill a Mockingbird (Ne ubijaj slavca) (Harper Lee, 1960; film, 1962, dir.: Robert Mulligan)

Pride and Prejudice (Prevzetnost in pristranost) (Jane Austin, 1813; film Pride and Prejudice, 2005, dir. Joe Wright)

Hamlet (William Shakespeare, 1599-1601; 1996 version, dir. Kenneth Branagh)

Atonement (Pokora) (Ian McEwan, 2001; film Atonement l. 2007, dir. Joe Wright; primerjava dveh del istega režiserja)

Watchmen (Varuhi) (strip Alan Moore, 1986-1987; film Watchmen l. 2009, dir. Zack Snyder)

Črni dnevi in beli dan (roman Dominik Smole, 1958; film Ples v dežju l. 1961, dir. Boštjan Hladnik)

Triptih Agate Schwarzkobler (roman Rudi Šeligo, 1968; film Triptih Agate Schwarzkobler l. 1997, dir. Matjaž Klopčič)

The students learn the terminology of intercultural studies and disciplines related to it. Furthermore, they get to know the points where cultural studies, anthropology, literary studies, media and communications studies and memory studies conjoin. Students learn how to formulate their own arguments and how to make concise summaries of academic texts and respond to ideas that get presented in class in a comprehensive way.

Basic:

• Zorman, Barbara: Sence besede: filmske priredbe slovenske literature: (1948-1979). Koper: Založba Annales, 2009.
• Cartmell, Deborah in Imelda Whelehan. Screen adaption: impure cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.Catalogue
• Reynolds, Peter, ur. Novel Images: literature in performance. London: Routledge, 1993. Catalogue E-version
• Corrigan, Timothy, ur. Film and Literature: An Introduction and Reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Catalogue E-version
• Seger, Linda. The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact And Fiction Into Film. New York: Owl Books, E-version
• Mcfarlane, Brian. Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
• Vankin, Jonathan. Based on a True Story: Fact and Fantasy in 100 Favorite Movies. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2005 Catalogue E-version
• Štefančič, Marcel, jr. Na svoji zemlji: zgodovina slovenskega filma. Ljubljana: UMco, 2005. Catalogue
• Vrdlovec, Zdenko: Zgodovina slovenskega filma, Didakta, 2010. Catalogue
• Kristin Thompson & David Bordwell (ur.). Svetovna zgodovina filma, Slovenska kinoteka, 2009. Catalogue

Articles from domestic and foreign film and literary journals:

• Ekran Catalogue
• Film Comment E-version
• Cahiers du Cinema
• Primerjalna književnost Catalogue E-version
• Dialogi E-version

The students have to pass the final exam and before that, successfully write and present their two seminar works. Regular class participation and the seminar essays are prerequisites for the students to be able to take the final exam.

(Adjunct) Associate Professor dr. Leonora Flis. Leonora Flis focuses on literary theory, contemporary British and American Literature, film (especially in relation to literature), graphic novels and literary journalism. She also writes book and film reviews, translates scholarly texts and literary works, and writes short stories. She published a collection of short stories Upogib časa (2015) and in 2022 her new collection Enakozvočja is to be published. She was the recipient of the Fulbright fellowship and was a visiting Fulbright scholar at Columbia University in New York. She is the author of a monograph Factual Fictions: Narrative Truth and the Contemporary American Documentary Novel (2010). Her scientific articles have been published in Slovene and foreign journals.

The selection of published texts:

FLIS, Leonora. Nan Shepherdʹs holistic world - an intimate triangle : nature, body and mind in the living mountain. V: DUŢU, Carmen (ur.). Representations, scenes and scenarios of intimacy in women’s writing. Bucureşti: Pro Universitaria, 2023. Str. 81-95. ISBN 978-606-26-1415-7. https://repozitorij.ung.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=8312. [COBISS.SI-ID 159100419]

FLIS, Leonora. The narrative of social (in)justice, feminism, and migration in Slavenka Drakulić's selected works. Dve domovini : razprave o izseljenstvu. [Tiskana izd.]. 2023, [št.] 58, str. 127-144. ISSN 0353-6777. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands/article/view/13203/11576, http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-VFRV4BE6, DOI: 10.3986/2023.2.07. [COBISS.SI-ID 160461571], [SNIP, Scopus]

FLIS, Leonora. Factual fictions: narrative truth and the contemporary American documentary novel. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2010. XII, 254 str. ISBN 9781-4438-24130-2. ISBN 1-4438-2413-5. [COBISS.SI-ID 44359522].

FLIS, Leonora. Med leposlovjem in poročanjem. Sodobnost. okt. 2021, letn. 85, št. 10, str. 1279-1292. ISSN 0038-0482. [COBISS.SI-ID 84567555]

FLIS, Leonora. Social engagement and multiculturalism in Louis Adamic's literary journalism and documentary prose. Dve domovini : razprave o izseljenstvu. [Tiskana izd.]. 2020, št. 51, str. 59-75. ISSN 0353-6777. DOI: 10.3986/dd.2020.1.04. [COBISS.SI-ID 45984557].

FLIS, Leonora. Grafične pripovedi in pripovednost. Primerjalna književnost. [Tiskana izd.]. maj 2020, letn. 43, št. 1, str. 51-74, ilustr. ISSN 0351-1189. DOI: 10.3986/pkn.v43.i1.03. [COBISS.SI-ID 18156803].

FLIS, Leonora. Družbeni angažma v literarnem novinarstvu Louisa Adamiča. V: DAUGUL, Larisa (ur.). Strpnost ni dovolj: prispevki s konference Iz mnogih dežel: ob 120. obletnici rojstva Louisa Adamiča, (Borec, ISSN 0006-7725, letn. 70 (2018), št. 751-753). Ljubljana: Sophia. 2018, [Letn.] 70, št. 751/753, str. [140]-149, 217-218. [COBISS.SI-ID 36010333].

FLIS, Leonora. Joe Sacco in literarno novinarstvo v podobi stripa - žanrski preplet literature, stripa, novinarstva in zgodovine. V: ZORMAN, Barbara (ur.), et al. Literatura in gibljive slike : tematski sklop = Literature and moving images : thematic section. Ljubljana: Slovensko društvo za primerjalno književnost, 2014. Letn. 37, št. 2, str. 195-225, [245], ilustr. Primerjalna književnost, letn. 37, št. 2. ISSN 0351-1189. [COBISS.SI-ID 55123042].

FLIS, Leonora. Profiling war : managing trauma in reporting horror : the case of Boštjan Videmšek. V: JOSEPH, Sue (ur.). Profile pieces : journalism and the "human interest" bias. New York; London: Routledge, cop. 2016. Str. 226-239. Routledge research in journalism, 13. ISBN 978-1-138-93805-2. [COBISS.SI-ID 4114171]