The Art of Adaptation

“The great mystery of adaptation is that true fidelity can only be achieved through lavish promiscuity”—David Hare

We experience adaptation in every medium—stories resonate and reappear, moving from novel, newspaper, or historical event to screenplay and feature film, from poem or painting to play, from folk tale to opera, from myth to fairy tale to symphony or ballet or animated film—the ways we adapt the stories we tell are endless. Why do we return to some tale, image, or myth and what is involved in altering its form yet preserving its essence from one medium to another? What conventions, for example, are appropriate to a novel but are completely out of place on the stage? What role does technology play in adaptation?

In this two-quarter program, we will study a number of adaptations and sources (ranging from Biblical tales to the Don Juan legend to works by Shakespeare and Sondheim). We’ll examine a curious phenomenon—that an adaptation must stand on its own but is built out of generative critical analysis of the piece adapted and a deep understanding of aesthetic conventions. We’ll ask about the role of the audience and culture in determining the status and meaning of a piece of artistic expression. We will even extend our investigation to include adaptation and science. Students will be expected to read and observe from a critical stance. They will write focused responses to each piece and participate in seminar, workshop, and lecture activities. Students will also engage in creative projects involving adaptation from one medium to another. Each quarter will be designed around thematically organized units of study: “Forbidden Knowledge” in the winter and “Myth and Modernity” in the spring. Credits will be awarded in literature, film studies and performance studies.