Session title: “Adapting Homer’s Odyssey, or What Makes an Instant Classic?” Presenter: Dr. Gretchen Busl, Texas Woman’s University.
Monday, December 11, 2017, 7:00-8:30 p.m. at the Denton South Branch Library.
Professor's Corner: A Literary Discussion Group. This session draws inspiration from Italo Calvino’s “Why Read the Classics?” in which he gives a number of striking definitions of a “classic” text. We will concentrate on one of these, the idea that “classics are those books that arrive to us carrying the traces of the readings that precede ours, and behind them bear the traces they themselves have left on the culture or cultures through which they have passed.” The significance of these texts is not simply what lies on the page, but also what has passed into the “generally circulated memory” in relation to these texts. His definition of a “classic” implies that a work is encoded not only with the texts which precede it, but with all the interpretations of that work that have come after it, including works which may refer to it, re-create it, or adapt it.
In fact, as Calvino writes, “every first reading of a classic is in reality a rereading.” Even the first reading of a text which has entered the collective cultural understanding will bring with it a sense of familiarity. Drawing from this premise, we will use "The Odyssey" and adaptations like "The Penelopiad" and the "Tidewater Tales" to explore how, by incorporating “classic” texts through adaptation and appropriation, a novel can instantly become the kind of classic for which even the first reading is a re-reading.
Dr. Busl earned her Ph.D. in Literature at the University of Notre Dame with a focus on adaptation and translation and a minor in Gender Studies. She is currently Assistant Professor of English at Texas Woman’s University, where she teaches a variety of courses in global literature, women's literature, literary theory, and writing.
Reading material: The reading made available in advance by the presenter can be obtained from the series coordinator if it is not attached to this e-mail or if links are not provided above. Reading in advance is encouraged but not required.
This program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
Future sessions: Jan. 8, Thornton Wilder’s theatrical world (Dr. Patrick Bynane); Feb., 12, Jean Toomer’s Cane and the Harlem Renaissance (Dr. Carl Smeller); March 26, poet Paula Gunn Allen’s trickster interventions (Dr. AnaLouise Keating); April 9, character contests in good dramatic scenes (Dr. Gray Scott); May 14, The Hunger Games and dystopian adolescent fiction (Dr. Guy Litton). The series: The purpose of this free series is to meet a public need for high quality presentations on literary topics by having local English professors talk about their special interests. The presentations are aimed at the general public and allow for discussion. Readings of modest length are usually available in advance. Gatherings are usually on the second Monday of specified months (new this season) from 7:00 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m. Monthly announcements are available by e-mail; to get on the mailing list, send a request by e-mail to the coordinator. Coordinator: Fred Kamman, Denton Public Library; [email protected]; 940-349-8752. Producer: Dr. Stephen Souris, Texas Woman’s University; [email protected]; 940-898-2343. Location of the South Branch Library: 3228 Teasley, Denton, TX 76210. The South Branch Library is just south of the Teasley & Lillian Miller intersection. Supporters: Recycled Books Records CDs, Cooper’s Copies and Printing—and especially the Denton Public Library.
Price
- FREE!
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