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Prior to enrolling in courses at this language level, students must have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish at their home university in the U.S.

Literature and Cinema (in English)

Justificación
The course explores the type of translation that literary works undergo when they are taken to the screen. Since both arts rely on quite distinctive industries and semiotic systems, it will soon become evident that our analyses of both texts are highly conditioned by the medium. As a result, such aspects as the relationship between the reader/viewer and the text, the concepts and protocols of analysis, the conventions to interpret each kind of narrative and so forth are necessarily different in each of the two media.

Contenidos
1. Brief introduction to the history of film adaptation.
2. Key concepts and issues in film criticism.
3. From the stage to the screen: procedures, changes, reception, etc.
4. Film language: how it is different and, yet, similar to other semiotic systems.
5. Fiction into film: translating myth, symbols, archetypes, etc.
6. Film narrative and how to read a filmic story.
7. Film ideology and film audiences.

Metodología
The above-mentioned competences will be acquired and perfected by means of the following activities:
- Short introductory lectures on the key differences between the production and reception processes in both arts.
- In-class discussions of the aspects of narrative theory likely to be used in film criticism.
- Practical exercises of analysis of particular scenes and sequences from the films.
- Study questions on the techniques used in film to translate specific sections of a literary work.
- Practical exercises to determine how we talk and write differently about film depending on the context and the audience.
- Short multiple-choice exercises to check whether the materials are being read and the discussions in class followed.
- Brief impersonations of particular characters in front of the class.
- Group presentations of the work done on some of the critical essays read throughout the course.
- Going out to see one or two movies together and writing reviews or more theoretically-oriented essays.
- Final examination consisting of a theoretical exposition and a practical analysis of a visual text.

Evaluación
The achievement of the competences listed above will be assessed by means of the following procedures:
1. Study questions, quizzes, practical exercises on the literary texts and the movies: 20 %.
2. Team presentations and reviews/essays on alternative texts/movies: 35%.
3. Final examination (Two essays; one theoretical, the other practical): 45 %.
N.B. Students will only get credit for this course if: a) they submit their term papers and do their presentations on the
appointed dates, and b) they receive a passing mark on both parts of the final exam.

Bibliografía
The compulsory readings for the course are the following:
MILLER, Arthur 1953. The Crucible. Harmondworth, UK: Penguin.
COOPER, James F. 1826. The Last of the Mohicans. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
WHARTON, Edith 1920. The Age of Innocence. London: Virago.
CARVER, Raymond. Selected Short Stories. New York: Harvill.
+ Film adaptations by directors N. Hytner, M. Mann, M. Scorcese, and R. Altman.

Also of interest:
BORDWELL, D. 1985. Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison: U Wisconsin P.
BOYUM, J.G. 1985. Double Exposure: Fiction into Film. New York: New Am Library.
CORRIGAN, T. 1999. Film and Literature: An Intro. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
GIMFERRER, P. 1999. Cine y Literatura. Barcelona: Seix Barral.
METZ, C. 1974. Film Language: A Semiotics of cinema. Oxford and NY: Oxford UP.
SÁNCHEZ NORIEGA, J.L. 2000. De la literatura al cine. Barcelona, B.A. y México: Paidos.
TURNER, G. 1993. Film as a Social Practice. London and NY: Routledge.
+ Specialized journals, magazines and web pages on the subject.