Offered Fall of 2026 (Semester 1)

Stories transform when they move from page to screen. In this course, students will read literary works — novels, short stories, and plays — and contrast them with their cinematic counterparts. Students will analyze how filmmakers adapt literature to film, focusing on how narrative voice, structure, imagery, and writing style translate to the big screen. Beginning with Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, which interweaves three timelines connected to the work of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, students will explore how film can visualize internal thought and complex narrative structures. Other literary texts and film adaptations we may consider include Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire and William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” which inspired Huraki Murakami’s story of the same title, and recently Lee Chang-dong’s film Burning. Through discussion, analytical essays, and creative projects, students will investigate how adaptation reshapes stories for the screen while raising a key question: what is gained—and what is lost—when literature becomes film?