Literature and Media

Students learn about the diversity of the forms and formats of contemporary texts (from the genres of popular fiction to film, video games, digital and social media literature), their stylistic features as well as the changing roles of the author and the reader. The role of technologies in the development of new forms of literature is underscored, as well as the role of the latter in reflecting and commenting upon the specificities of contemporary society dominated by media technologies. Students learn about new theories and methods used in analysing such texts. Texts of different formats are compared using narratology and other theories, focusing on how differences in form and format influence the construction of the text, representation of various motifs, and perception thereof.

Students get acquainted with the contemporary variety of textual forms and formats and develop their skills of text analysis, using relevant theoretical principles.

Good knowledge of English.

1. Canonical national and popular literature, tgeir roles and importance. The importance of the cultural market. The emergence of different media. The importance of form and format to the narrative. 2. The development of film technologies. Analysis of visual narratives: the main concepts and principles. 3. TV as a cultural phenomenon of the domestic space. TV as an institution (e.g. BBC ); its educational and entertainment functions. 4. The computer and multimedia. Hypertexts, multimodality, interactive narratives. 5. The internet, the culture of sharing and remix: appropriations, uncreative writing and conceptual literature. 6. Social media and new literary forms: blogs, digital epistolary narrative, fan fiction, Twitterfiction, Instapoetry. 7. The viewer’s parasocial relationship with TV show characters. 8. Digital literature: from the reader to the user. 9. Uncreative writing; social media literature and collaborative writing. 10. Adaptation: text to film/TV series; comics to animations. 11. Video game as a narrative. 12. Popular literary genres. Crime fiction, horror, science fiction, etc. 13. Film genres: drama, comedy, thrillers, animation. TV genres: soap operas, family comedies, crime series. 14. Narratology and its application to an analysis of texts of various formats. 15. Comparative analysis of different media: representation / censorship of a selected motif (violence, race, etc) in a literarey text, film, TV show, video game, digital literature.

1. The major media that emerge in the 20-21 centuries (film, TV, video, internet, social media) are identified and described. 2. The textual forms and features resulting from the influence of new media technologies are recognized and described. 3. The ways different media change the roles of the author and the reader are identified and explained. 4. How differences in form and format influence the ways the text is constructed and different motifs are presented is identified and described. 5. Features of different genres are identified and described. 6. Theoretical terms and concepts necessary to analyse texts created in different formats and mediums are defined. 7. Relevant theoretical terms are selected and used both in oral discussions and in writing to ground opinion.