Text in Context

Catalog description

If the Mona Lisa is in The Louvre, where then is Hamlet? (F. W. Bateson) This question recognizes the fluidity of a text's interpretation and varying modes of reproduction through time and space. It also asks what and where the authentic text might be. This is significant as most texts we read are neither as they were originally produced, nor transmitted as they were probably intended. Instead, they're mediated by editors or adaptors or translators or filmmakers. This course will focus on investigating the complexities of the concept of text, including its intentionality, materiality, authenticity, and authorial agenda. Students will hone techniques to read, question and interpret texts in their "raw" form, and acquire the skills to transform original texts into publishable forms from the book-like to the digital and multimedia. Authors will include Geoffrey Chaucer, William Blake, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Kurt Cobain and historical and contemporary archival sources.