Class 1

Introduction to the course

History of popular fiction in Britain

Class 2

Analysis of story: events. Models: Propp and Bremond

Analysis of text: time

Formula stories in popular fiction

Analysis of openings;

Text/film: Oliver Twist

Reading: Rimmon-Kenan 6-29

Class 3

Story: characters

Text: characterization

Characters and events in melodrama

Text/film: Oliver Twist; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Reading: Rimmon-Kenan, 29-42; 59-70

Class 4

Text: focalization

Narration: levels and voices

Introduction to Film Adaptation

Text/film: Oliver Twist; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Reading: Rimmon- Kenan 71-105

Class 5

Adventure:

The spy thriller; The action movie – story, plot, text

Text/film: Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice (1964)

 dir. Lewis Gilbert, You Only Live Twice (1967)

Reading: M. Woolf, Ian Fleming’s Enigma and Variations

Class 6

Adventure: characters

Text/film: Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice (1964)

 dir. Lewis Gilbert, You Only Live Twice (1967)

 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Class 7

 Adventure: ideology

Text/film: Oliver Twist; Oliver!

Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice (1964)

 dir. Lewis Gilbert, You Only Live Twice (1967) 

Class 8

Romance: story

Text: Amanda Stevens, The Long-Lost Heir (Toronto: Harlequin, 1998)

Class 9

Romance: characters

Text: Amanda Stevens, The Long-Lost Heir (Toronto: Harlequin, 1998)

Class 10

Romance: ideology

Text: Amanda Stevens, The Long-Lost Heir (Toronto: Harlequin, 1998)

Reading: J. Radway, Interpretoive Communities and Variable Literacies: The Functions of Romance Reading

Class 11

The language of popular fiction (1)

Texts: Oliver Twist, You Only Live Twice, The Long-Lost Heir
Reading: Walter Nash, Language in Popular Fiction

Class 12

The language of popular fiction (2)

Texts: the same

Class 13

The language of popular fiction (3)

Texts: the same

Winding up the course

Take-Home Assignment