Fall 2009 English Department Courses

All Courses are described below (click on links)

Spring 2008 Upper Level Course Descriptions

Intro Creative Writing:Poems 155 01 (A and B)
Sellers, Heather L.

     You do not have to be an English major to write good poems. You can simply be yourself. In this course, anyone who would like to try poetry is welcome. The focus in this introductory course is on developing your own voice and discovering your own personal style. Each week, we will read poetry in order to get inspired, and then we will write—a poem a week. As one student described this class: "Bring anything and everything you have to the table and we will make poetic wonderment out of it!" Workload: medium-light. (Reading contemporary poetry, writing a poem-a-week and some short response assignments.) Atmosphere: open-ended, fun, friendly, welcoming, and positive. (If you want to be torn to shreds, this might not be the class for you.) Counts for an FA2 credit for General Education.

Expository Writing II 213.01 (A and B)
Bartley, Jacqueline S.

     The essai, according to Montaigne who introduced the literary term in the 16th century, is a trial; that is, we write essays in order to test ourselves and our relationship to subjects and ideas. In this half-semester course, you’ll study the essay as contemporary writers use it and work on improving your skills at writing and discovery. The focus will be on blending personal voice with investigative and reflective writing.

Workplace Writing 214.01
Huisken, Jon J.

Description Coming Soon

Workplace Writing 214.02
Aslanian, Janice B.

     Communication skills help organizations and the people in them achieve their goals. The ability to write and speak well will become increasingly important as you rise in an organization. Therefore, this course is designed to prepare you to respond effectively to a variety of workplace situations. You will practice writing to different audiences using memo or letter format. Additionally, you will construct a resume and job application letter and complete a short report. All major writing assignments will be submitted in a portfolio at the end of the semester.

Literature Western World I 231.01
Verduin, Kathleen

"The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation—initiation— return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth. A hero ventures forth from the realm of common day into a region of supernatural wonder; fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won; the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man." - Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1948)

     English 231 is a course in the classics: the texts that form the foundation of western—that is, European—literature from the beginnings of written history to about 1600. From Gilgamesh and Homer (the ancient world) through Dante’s Inferno and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (the Middle Ages) to Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and the plays of the Mexican nun Sor Juana (the Renaissance), we will trace the development of literary expression, learn to surmount its difficulties, and recognize its continuing presence in the way that even we perceive our world and ourselves. Obviously it’s impossible to cover so many centuries with anything like thoroughness, but we make a valiant effort to investigate works either artistically superior or most representative of the culture that produced them. While the contentious climate of postmodern opinion now challenges the whole concept of “the classics,” most students who give these texts a careful reading come to confirm their value as embodiments and transmitters of all that is best in our tradition. To give a thread of continuity to this wide-ranging foray into the literature of the past, we will follow the recurrent themes of nature versus culture, male versus female, and action versus contemplation, and we will confront in particular the mighty archetype, persistent from Gilgamesh to Superman, of the hero’s journey. What gets these heroes going? What do they seek? How do their journeys lead them into the strangest of all regions, the human mind? And can their journeys tell us something, even at the distance of centuries, about the journeys we ourselves must undertake? These are some of the questions that will concern us this semester. Four credit hours.

     (Note: This course fulfills half the Cultural Heritage core requirement. Since English 231 is an “ancient” course, it should be paired with IDS 172, or with a history course and a philosophy course, one of which must be History 131 or Philosophy 232. The three-course option is recommended particularly for majors thinking of doing graduate work in English.)

Literature Western World I 231.02
Mezeske, Barbara

     Do you like to read? Are you interested in the literary works that both shape and reflect the values of Western culture? Do you like classes that are a mix of discussion and lecture?
     If the answer to ANY of these questions is "yes," then consider this course. We will look at three broad time periods (the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans, Europe in the Middle Ages, and the European Renaissance), about twenty-five authors (give or take), and a wide range of epic poems, plays, and poetry. Marvel at the evolution of literature from Homer to Chistopher Marlowe, grow sad over the inevitable fates of tragic heroes like Antigone and Roland, laugh at the bawdy tales of Chaucer, ponder the limits of human reason and the limitations of gender. This course is writing-flagged in the core, so you can expect to write many pages of finished prose. Four credit hours.

     (Note: This course fulfills half the Cultural Heritage core requirement. Since English 231 is an "ancient" course, it should be paired with IDS 172, or with a history course and a philosophy course, one of which must be History 131 or Philosophy 232. The three-course option is recommended particularly for majors thinking of doing graduate work in English.)

Literature Western World II 232.01
Cole, Ernest D.

     This course is designed to introduce students to a wide variety of social, historical and cultural perspectives in the growth and development of the literature of the Western world. It would focus on a selection of texts from the Renaissance unto the Post-modern era. The course would address major world views that have shaped and defined cultural norms, diversity within western culture, and differences and interactions between Western and other cultures. Students in this course would be exposed to critical thinking, reading and writing with a view to engaging the complexities of the literature, developing their own independent judgements and crafting critical responses to the issues addressed.

Intro to Literature 248.01
Janzen, Rhoda M.

     This course is an introduction to the literary forms of fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction, considering elements they have in common and elements unique to each. It will examine how genres differ, but also how they intersect and overlap and influence each other. It aims to teach how to read literature with sensitivity, understanding, and appreciation, and how to approach that reading from a variety of theoretical perspectives. It is not a course in writing stories or poems or drama--for that, see English 254 or 255 or 258. It is a foundational course, intended as preparation for all higher-numbered literature courses in the English department. But it also is of value in itself and is recommended for students looking for an elective dealing with literature broadly. Four credit hours.

Intro to Literature 248.02
Dykstra, Natalie A.

Description Coming Soon

ntro to Literature 248.03
Kipp, Julie A.

     This course is an introduction to the literary forms of fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction, considering elements they have in common and elements unique to each. It will examine how genres differ, but also how they intersect and overlap and influence each other. It aims to teach how to read literature with sensitivity, understanding, and appreciation, and how to approach that reading from a variety of theoretical perspectives. It is not a course in writing stories or poems or drama--for that, see English 254 or 255 or 258. It is a foundational course, intended as preparation for all higher-numbered literature courses in the English department. But it also is of value in itself and is recommended for students looking for an elective dealing with literature broadly. Four credit hours.

Creative Writing: Fiction 254.01
Vissers, Carla J.

Description Coming Soon

Creative Writing: Poems 255.01
Peschiera, Pablo A.

     Poetry is play. Poetry is an answer to an unasked question. Poetry is a pretty big house, with lots of different rooms, in which “Risk” is always played. That's why poetry permits with language what no other mode of expression allows.

     In English 255, we'll come to understand that there are as many ways to write poetry as there are people; that writing one poem leads to the writing of another poem, and then another; that reading poetry is essential to becoming a better poet; and that becoming a better reader and writer of poetry rewards us with possibilities for life-long pleasures with language.

     We will attempt to write in many different styles, allowing a huge amount of experimentation based on the style presented. We will discuss the poems we write as a group, and express our respect for the individual poem and poet by questioning it deeply. We will work collaboratively as a whole class and in small groups. We will use our ingenuity to apply our knowledge gained outside the class to the benefit of the class as a whole. We will write until our hands cramp-up, and call our writing poetry.

Creative Writing: Satire 259.01
Hemenway, Stephen I.

     Modestly, I propose that this unsavory course, blandly entitled "Creative Writing: Satire," be eliminated from the smorgasbord of English Department offerings. An abundance of satire already sours our sweet existences. Why should students be fed a diet of hard-boiled lampoons and mushy travesties from the mixing-bowl minds of impossibility thinkers? Furthermore, why should students be encouraged to vomit forth mealy-mouthed parodies or concoct original recipes of tasteless satire in this best of all possible worlds?
     Idiots will argue that writing satire is a delectable experience. They will point to the exquisite feast prepared by such gourmet satirists as the fabled Aesop, the titillating Aristophanes, the arty Buchwald, and the motherly Bombeck. They will urge Hope students to spice and sauce college life with delicious dishes of nouveau satire.
      How unappetizing! I think the average Hopeite will suffer mental indigestion from taste-testing political, social, religious, and academic poison from the pens of her or his cohorts in this course.
     This Monday/Wednesday/Friday Afternoon Live class is not the proper fare to be served at an already perfect liberal arts college in the Christian tradition. I have nothing to gain by discouraging your abstinence, except for a peaceful existence minus rough drafts of artistic, literary, musical, and gender satire. Four credit hours.
      Format: a pinch of lecture; a dash of discussion; an ounce of performance; a pound of workshop commentary on each other's caricatures, cartoons, curses, parodies, political diatribes, and modest proposals, etc.
      Reading: two books and many tidbits from satiric masters to serve as models for writing.
      Writing: several cups of original satiric writing in a variety of forms chosen by each budding Swift; you'll prepare many experimental pieces, but you'll be able to choose which ones you want to bake to perfection for grading.

Writing for Teachers 279.01
Sellers, Heather L.

     The best writing teachers are writers themselves and the goal in this course is for you to see yourself, by December, if not before, as a "real writer." This course is geared absolutely for beginners (no prior creative writing experience is necessary.) Here, you will discover a fun, no-fail method for dealing with writers' block and procrastination. You'll learn how to choose great topics, and how to enjoy your writing more. Plus: you'll learn an approach to revision that really actually works! Reading load: medium-light yet rich, like the perfect dessert. Writing: due for nearly every class; portfolio in place of final exam. Homework exercises and in-class writing. One (fun) group project. Atmosphere: kind, safe, nurturing, supportive, sparkly, positive. Welcome!

Lit 2.0: Digital Humanities 295.01B
Pannapacker, William A.

     Digitization is most important development in literature since the invention of the printing press, and no one who intends to work in the humanities—particularly scholars, teachers, librarians, and anyone concerned with information technology and communication—can afford to neglect this ongoing revolution. “Literature 2.0” is designed to provide students with the essential knowledge and practical skills needed to begin building credentials in a field that is expanding rapidly in a time when other humanities fields are contracting. Working in self-directed teams, students will collaborate with faculty members to create “Digital Learning Modules”—collections of online resources utilizing a combination of video podcasting, interactive maps, exercises, and group activities—to showcase their own talents, enhance the Hope College curriculum, and provide educational services to the larger community, possibly including students in the developing world. The course assumes no prior experience in literary studies or digital technology, but it will pave the way for future work at the intersection of both fields. Students majoring in non-humanities disciplines are most welcome, since the course develops skills in writing and new media, leadership, teamwork, and consulting that are valued in many professions, even in a tight job market.

Click here for FAQ about Digital Humanities!

British Literature I 301.01
Schakel, Peter J.

     This course surveys literature written in England until the late eighteenth century. Its purpose is to give students a general knowledge and understanding of the great works and writers of early England (Beowulf and other Old English texts), medieval England (Chaucer, Langland, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), Renaissance England (Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare), writers of the early seventeenth century (Donne, Jonson, Herrick, Herbert, Marvell, Milton) and the later seventeenth century (Bunyan, Pepys, Dryden), and writers of eighteenth century England (Swift, Pope, Johnson, and Austen). These are the “classic” works and writers that established the tradition on which later writers built, works and writers with which all students of English literature should be familiar. Four credit hours.

British Literature II 302.01
Kipp, Julie A.

     A historical and cultural study of British and Commonwealth literature from the Romantic Period to the present. Focuses on major works and authors (e.g., Blake, Wordsworth, Wollstonecraft, Keats, Browning, E. Bronte, Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Woolf, Beckett, Lessing, Achebe, Heaney, Coetzee, Rushdie) and major genres, forms, and literary movements (e.g., poetry, drama, fiction, Romanticism, Victorian Age, Modernism, Post-Colonial Literature. 4 credit hours.

American Literature I 305.01
Klooster, David J.

A fast-moving survey of American Literature, from its beginnings in Native American legends and the writings of the earliest European explorers, through the Civil War. We’ll read a great deal, and continue to develop skills in literary analysis and interpretation, critical thinking, and writing about literature. Class time will alternate between lecture and discussion. Students will have several options in designing writing assignments to mesh with differing learning styles and career directions. Four credit hours.

American Literature II 306.01
Janzen, Rhoda M.

     This course provides a chronological overview of American Literature from 1865-2009. But the very idea of cramming 144 years of a nation’s literature into fifteen weeks begs some troubling questions about power and privilege. Who gets to decide what is considered canonical, and why? We’ll discuss those questions along with the literature that invites them. In this class, we’re shooting for breadth, depth, and inclusivity—but remember, this is as much a course in cultural politics as it is in literature. You may find that there are some disadvantages to working within the polemic of academic canonicity. At times the pace is brisk, the reading challenging, and the exposure brief. This is, after all, a “Big Picture” course. However, in survey courses we develop a broad sense of literary movements; we connect those movements to larger cultural and historical events; and we begin to ground our favorite authors in literary traditions, rebellions, and innovations that affirm the importance of context. From Henry James to Flannery O’Connor to Chang-Rae Lee, the authors we’ll be reading are the tasty page-turners that move us from aesthetic pleasure to lasting intellectual enrichment.
     Reading assignments feature one novel-length work per week, but the reading list will be available early if you want a head start. Requirements include attendance at all sessions, quizzes, presentations, a short 5-7-page paper, a longer 10-page research paper, and a big sticky final. Four credit hours.

Intermed Creative Wrtg:Fiction 354.01
Sellers, Heather L.

     Do you want to write short fiction? Do you get stuck and then stop? Do you have a hard time starting stories? An even harder time finishing? Do you have procrastination issues? Are you your own worst critic? Do you have great ideas for stories but a hard time getting them down on the page? If you answer yes to any of these questions, this could be the course for you. Each week, we'll read contemporary short fiction for inspiration and each week we will create fiction of our own. The format is a friendly workshop-- supportive, practical, welcoming, and open.

Intermed Creative Wrtg:Poems 355.01
Bartley, Jacqueline S.

     In this intermediate class, you’ll write, read and critique poetry. We’ll give special attention to revision techniques, developing voice and honing workshop skills. And we’ll do all we can to nurture your writing and cultivate your appreciation and respect for poetry.

Intermed Creative Wrtg:Memoir 358.01
Trembley, Elizabeth A.

     Every person has a story to tell. But writing honestly and well about your life, your experience, your family, and your community can be an act of courage! And an act that brings tremendous rewards.
     Interested in looking at your life in the context of questions of culture and identity? Want to share and interpret your experiences for readers? Ever wonder about the relationship of truth and fact? How does storytelling and reflecting on that storytelling lead each of us to greater understanding of our truths? Of the truths of humanity? Want to create meaningful experiences for readers by writing about your life?
     Anyone interested in thinking about those questions, in discovering your voice, in seeing the profound in your life, and in crafting your observations in short works of motion, dramatic tension, and purpose should join this course.
We’ll explore the possibilities of form, the techniques of narration and reflection, the changing shape of memory and the unique powers of voice. We’ll study many excerpts as models, write tons and workshop.
     Super Special Feature: we’ll focus on re-visioning drafts for performance as we work with the theatre department to create a reader’s theatre production of excerpts (anonymous) of our stories!

Modern English Grammar 360.01
Vissers, Carla J.

Description Coming Soon

Shakespeare's Plays 373.01
Cox, John D.

     The textbook for this course organizes Shakespeare's plays into four kinds, or "genres": comedy, history, tragedy, and romance. The first "complete works" edition (the so-called First Folio, published in 1623) uses a similar organizing strategy, but it omits "romance" and often puts plays in very different categories from those a modern editor would select for them. Who is right, in a case like this, and why? How much did Shakespeare himself think in terms of genre, as he wrote his plays? Does genre have a fixed identity, or is it a cultural construct? This course will approach Shakespeare's plays by raising questions about the identity of dramatic form, trying to understand, as best we can, how the plays came to have the shape they do. An important question is whether film constitutes a new genre. Is Branagh's Hamlet a different kind of work from a stage production of the play? To help answer this question, the course will strongly emphasize filmed versions of the plays, using the extensive DVD and videotape collection in the VanWylen Library. Four credit hours.

Great American Novel 373.02
Verduin, Kathleen

The Deerslayer. The Marble Faun. The American. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The Red Badge of Courage. Ethan Frome. Main Street. The Sun Also Rises. Miss Lonelyhearts. Native Son. The Naked and the Dead. Rabbit, Run. Beloved. Blood Meridian. What course could possibly encompass the power and the glory of the novel in the United States? But we'll give it a try, reading significant novels from the early nineteenth century to the dawn of the twenty-first and investigating notable statements on the theory of the genre. Lots and lots of reading--but what a trip. Several critical essays and one magnificent research paper.

Lit Child & Adolescents 373.03
Portfleet, Dianne R.

     This course will focus on reading many works of Adolescent and Children's Literature, with 60% of the readings being Cross Cultural Readings. Reading and analyzing what we have read will be for the purpose of writing a literary theory of your own at the end of the semester, so that you can on your own discern poor, good, and excellent literature and have solid reasons for your decisions. Your final exam for the course will be your completed literary theory. The course will be mainly discussion of the works we are readings and deciding the quality of each of our readings as the semester progresses. It will be a fun course, for the books chosen to be read are all award winning books. This course is designed to stimulate your imaginations, help your critical thinking skills, rekindle of love of reading for pleasure in your lives, and prepare you to discern quality literature and movies on your own.

The Woman Question:Engl & Afri 375.01
Cole, Ernest D.

     What does it mean to be a woman? How is the woman constructed and from whose perspective? What is the role of the woman in society? What are the historical, philosophical, and cultural underpinnings that inform notions of gender and sexuality? This course would investigate the social and discursive constructions of womanhood, engage writers’ representations of changing perspectives of womanhood, gender and sexuality, and explore the formations of meanings with which these constructs are discussed. Discussions emerging from textual exploration would be located within the historical, literary, and cultural contexts or discourse that shape, define, revisit, and reformulate overlapping, competing and contesting notions of womanhood. The course would explore selected texts from the Victorian Period and Post-Independent Sub-Saharan societies in Francophone and Anglophone Africa

History of English Language 375.02
Gruenler, Curtis A.

Top 6 Reasons to Study the History of the English Language

1. Understand how English has changed over time and varies according to culture, nationality, class, medium, and use—as well as the social and political significance of these varieties.
2. Learn how English came to have at least three times more words than any other language and became the most widely used language in the world.
3. Enrich your reading of literature, from the Old English of Beowulf and the Middle English of Chaucer to the Spanglish of Gloria Anzaldúa.
4. See how J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis made important contributions to the study of the English language and how their studies inspired their own fiction and poetry.
5. Think about how standard English relates to other varieties. What is good English and who decides?
6. Consider what the future of English is likely to be. How, for instance, are politics and technology changing the language?

     Projects focused on the language of Beowulf, Chaucer, and Shakespeare will give you tools for reading texts in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English. You’ll learn just enough about Old English poetry to translate Beowulf if you had to and, perhaps more important, to understand the choices and issues behind a published translation. Other short projects will help you learn how to study individual words and their histories, how this knowledge can enrich your reading and writing, and how to take a more critical eye toward language authorities like dictionaries. Besides these short projects and a take-home exam, you’ll write one research-based paper and give one presentation on topics of your choice. All in all, we’ll look at language in ways different from any other English course: close analysis of written works from a linguistic as well as literary perspective and attention to how you use language in every context, not just expository or creative writing.

Literature Crossing Borders 375.03
Montano, Jesus A.

     The title for this course easily could be Literature without Borders. This class also could be about how real people move in real trains or real cars across real landscapes with real border patrols guarding imaginary lines in the sand. However, this is the weird part: those guarding the imaginary lines are not so much interested in detaining real people or in real trains as much as they truly are passionate about containing all those potentials of the human imagination, like ideas or beliefs or values or visions of reality that are different if not in opposition to those found within those (again) imaginary lines. It is one of the ironies of this migrant earth that ideas, beliefs, values, or visions of reality, whether within or without those imaginary lines, are created and dissolved in the (again) imagination. And what is literature if not an agent in the construction and destruction of the (once again) imagination and all that entails. Crossing Borders in Literature, or Literature without Borders, is a class with a simple plan: the exploration of literature with the idea that while real people moving in real trains and real cars crossing real landscapes can be stopped by real border patrols, the imagination and all that it entails is borderless, moving through as easy through lines as the human heart moves across epidermis to meet its kindred heart.
     This is an American literature course that examines literary works ranging from novels to short stories to theatrical pieces to diary accounts to newspaper articles. In a course that seeks to span the hemisphere, I suppose that spanning the vast world of literature is apropos. The course is divided into two sections Places Created and Places Found. Places Created is a figural description of this Brave New World; for this class it also serves as the conceptual starting point to begin discussion on what exactly this Brave New World is. The proposed reading list is Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s A Hundred Years of Solitude, Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, and Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!, rounded out by short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Jorge Luis Borges, Juan Rulfo, Alejo Carpentier, and Sandra Cisneros. Places Found pays homage to the Open Road, an idea that if we follow the teaching of Captain Jack Sparrow is more about finding the idea of freedom and of challenging the boundaries of our own humanity as well as those imposed by borders and fences. This section will include words such as Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries, and Maria Amparo Escandon’s Gonzales and Daughter Trucking Co., rounded out by short stories and newspaper articles by those who span the hemisphere looking for adventure and themselves and those who span the hemisphere looking for a simple little dream we call American.

Ways of Seeing: Lit & Photography 375.04
Dykstra, Natalie A.

     Since its invention in 1839, photography has influenced the ways in which we see and understand our lives. In fact, learning how to read photographs – photographs of the past and present – is an essential skill for navigating a culture awash in images. But what are we seeing when we look at a photograph? Photographs overflow with facts: “so that’s what Henry James looked like as a young boy!” At the same time, photographs are opaque and mysterious about what those facts might mean. This upper-level seminar investigates the first 100 years of photography. We ask:

• how photography influenced and inspired fiction and biography;
• how photography shaped class-consciousness;
• how the camera became a tool of both memory and conquest.

     Readings include Hawthorne’s spooky novel of ancestral vision, The House of Seven Gables, Woolf’s modernist To the Lighthouse, and Roland Barthes’ masterpiece, Camera Lucida. Expect lectures, discussion, several short papers, and an exam. The large research project asks you to select and analyze a collection of historical photographs. Topics have included 1920s circus photography, dance photography, celebrity photography, photographs of flags, and Whitman’s photographic self-portraits as a visual companion to his Leaves of Grass. Students from every discipline are welcome!!!!

Teaching Secondary School Engl 380.01
Moreau, William H.

     Are you an English major who wants to be an English teacher in a secondary school? Are you an English minor who may end up teaching some English as part of your future career choice? If either of these situations fits you, this class is designed to help. We'll learn concrete, practical methods for choosing and teaching literature, for teaching and evaluating the process of writing, and for presenting the study of grammar and usage. Topics of interest related to the profession of classroom teaching as a whole will also be shared. Class sessions will include informal lectures, student projects and presentations, and discussions. Reading will be from texts to be named later, and a mountain of handouts. Four credit hours.

Short Story to Screen 495.01
Hemenway, Stephen I.

“No, but I saw the film” is not a valid comment in this freshly conceived cinematic and literary course that combines short stories with their big-screen adaptations. Expect to read each short story and view each film at least twice to understand the challenges of moving from one artistic medium to another. For starters, try this matching test of author, short story, film, and director (answers at the bottom*):

Authors: (a) Sherman Alexie, (b) Arthur C. Clarke, (c) Andre Dubus, (d) F. Scott Fitzgerald, (e) W.P. Kinsella

Short stories: (f) “Babylon Revisited,” (g) “Killings,” (h) “The Sentinel,” (i) “Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa,” (j) “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”

Films: (k) 2001: A Space Odyssey, (l) Field of Dreams, (m) In the Bedroom, (n) the Last Time I Saw Paris, (o) Smoke Signals

Directors: (p) Richard Brooks, (q) Chris Eyre, (r) Todd Field, (s) Phil Alden Robinson, (t) Stanley Kubrick

Many Oscar winners and nominees from All About Eve and It Happened One Night to Brokeback Mountain and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button started out as short stories. Famous foreign films, such as Antonioni’s Blow-Up and Kurosawa’s Rashomon,
saw the light of day as short stories. Isak Dinesen’s “Babette’s Feast,” Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers,” and Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds” kept the same titles in film versions.

How do adapters expand characters and themes and settings, create moods with sound effects and visual tricks, decide what to eliminate? What different techniques do screenplay writers and directors employ when transforming short stories into classroom films or full-length feature movies? Which films are “better” than the original stories? Which are flops? Why?

As you write short reaction papers and analyses and pursue a research project, you may also decide on alternatives such as writing an original screenplay based on a short story and/or filming that short story individually or in small groups. Four credits.

*Answers: a-j-o-q; b-h-k-t; c-g-m-r; d-f-n-p; e-i-l-s