Narrative Media
Full course description
The first part of the course introduces main concepts from narratology, such as story, discourse, authorship, and narration. In addition, students will learn the differences between a structuralist and a postclassical approach to narratology.
During the second part of the course, narrativity in different media will be subject of investigation. We ask how different media construct stories and to what extent these stories are medium-specific. The media under study are the short story, the fixed image and series of images, comics, film, hyperfiction and digital games. For students with particular interest in literature, the Handbook of Narrative Analysis (2005) will be most instructive, while Narrative across Media will be most useful to students who are more oriented towards other media. We will read chapters from both books in this course as well as other literature that addresses the narrativity of media.
The final essay has to show that students are able to apply the methods introduced during the course to a case study the they are free to choose. Examples are the novel House of Leaves, the short story collection Olive Kitteridge, the comic Deadpool and its film adaptation, the graphic novel Persepolis, the film 5x2, and the game L.A. Noire. As this is a course in the humanities, an approach to storytelling from the social sciences or psychology is only possible in comparison to methods from the humanities.
Course objectives
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To familiarize students with the methods of narratology (the study of storytelling) and important theories revolving around narratology.
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To analyze different media such as literature, paintings, photographs, comics, film, film music, digital literature and computer games.
Prerequisites
At least two 2000-level courses in the Humanities or Social Sciences.
Recommended reading
The following handbooks are the most crucial:
- Herman, L. and Vervaeck, B. (2005). Handbook of Narrative Analysis. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Ryan, M.-L. (2004). Narrative across Media. Lincoln, London: University of Nebraska Press.
We wil also make use of excerpts from other sources, such as:
- Hutcheon, L. with S. O’Flynn (2013). A Theory of Adaptation (second edition). New York: Routledge.
- McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperCollins.
- Ryan, M.-L. (eds.). Intermediality and Storytelling. Berlin: de Gruyter.
- Verstraten, P. (2009). Film Narratology. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.