This course is offered for further specialization in the study of narrative and is recommended to students who have already taken relevant courses (related to the study of narrative). After defining the theoretical field within which it becomes possible to examine novels and films on an equal basis –despite any differences in media manifestation, that is, verbal or (audio)visual– the course will focus on a comparative analysis of the narrative structure of sample texts, short-stories and novels, films, even comic strips. The emphasis falls on the examination of novels and films as primarily narrative texts. An analysis of textual relationships, such as those between author and text, reader and text, the fictional and the ‘real,’ will aim to explore the essence of narrative fiction and to show that the same, more or less, aesthetic, rhetorical and other artistic issues apply to the construction of narrative text, whether literary or cinematic. Students are expected to have acquired:A general knowledge of the theory of narrative fiction A deeper insight into the theory of media studies, semiotics and play and game theory Basic skills in a comparative analysis of different media-based texts. Course textbooks and outline / list of readings (more than 10 key-book titles) are available. Assessment: Final exam.
