Comparative Literature 425 - Greek Tragedy/Stage & Screen

This course explores modern cinema?s relationship with classical Greek tragedy. We will study ten plays in translation to examine the structure of tragedy and its cultural, religious, and political function in fifth-century BCE Athens. The reading of each tragedy will be paired with the screening of at least one film. This course will proceed, not by privileging each classical tragedy as a source text and each film as the target text, but rather by viewing them as two autonomous texts that bear a relationship. It is this intermedial relationship that we will primarily investigate and ponder. In this process, we will consider various theories and practices of adaptation and reception, deepen our understanding of the artistic and expressive nature of the cinematic medium, and gain incisive competence in the formal analysis of film.