Dr Juliana Dresvina

Introduction

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the evolving life of literary texts from the page to the screen, focusing on five core authors who have shaped British literature and continue to inspire filmmakers across generations: the Beowulf poet, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Each week, students will engage in close readings of selected excerpts, analyse thematic and cultural resonances, and view selected scenes from significant screen adaptations. We will discuss how these texts have been reimagined for different audiences, time periods, and media, and explore what a fresh adaptation might look like for the 21st century.

The course encourages students to think critically about adaptation as both interpretation and transformation — a conversation between centuries, artistic forms, and social norms. Seminars will consider the pressures of modernisation, gender and class dynamics, colonial legacies, and audience expectations in shaping the journey from book to screen.

Oxford, with its literary and cinematic associations, provides an inspiring backdrop to our discussions. Students will leave the course not only with greater insight into the texts themselves but with the tools to imagine — and perhaps even develop — their own adaptations.

Indicative Seminar Programme

Week 1: From Oral Epic to Global Screen – Beowulf
We begin with Beowulf, the anonymous Old English poem of heroism and monsters that has echoed across literary history. After reading key passages in modern translation, we consider how the poem’s values, structure, and mythic power have been reimagined in adaptations such as The 13th Warrior (1999), Beowulf & Grendel (2005), and Beowulf (2007). We’ll also reflect on what an adaptation today might do with questions of violence, masculinity, myth, and cultural inheritance.

Week 2: The Many Faces of Shakespeare

From Hamlet in black and white to 10 Things I Hate About You, Shakespeare is perhaps the most endlessly adapted writer in the English language. This week examines one or two Shakespearean plays (e.g. Macbeth and/or The Tempest) with an eye to themes such as ambition, power, and the supernatural. We analyse scenes from both classic and radical film versions and ask what keeps Shakespeare relevant — and how much can be changed before it stops being Shakespeare at all.

Week 3: Jane Austen – Wit, Class, and the Cinematic Gaze
Austen’s novels have enjoyed a dazzling second life on screen, from faithful BBC serials to modern riffs like Clueless. We’ll focus on Pride and Prejudice and one other Austen novel, considering how wit, irony, and interiority are translated into visual form. Themes of gender, class, and courtship will guide our exploration of screen language — and we’ll debate what an Austen adaptation for the 2020s could or should prioritise.

Week 4: The Brontës – Gothic, Madness, and the Female Voice

This week turns to the Brontë sisters, whose work often resists neat translation. After discussing extracts from Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, we explore their gothic imagery, unreliable narrators, and subversive undercurrents. Film adaptations from 1943 to 2011 will help us trace changing attitudes to passion, trauma, and the boundaries of realism. We’ll consider what kinds of stories the Brontës allow us to tell on screen today — and which aspects remain elusive.

Week 5: Tolkien – Myth, Fantasy, and the Franchise Er

Our final session returns to Tolkien, whose epic legendarium (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings) has shaped modern fantasy on both page and screen. We examine how Tolkien’s medievalism, Catholic imagination, and anti-industrial worldview have been adapted by Peter Jackson and others — and what’s gained and lost in the process. Students will explore what 21st-century fantasy demands from its sources and speculate on the future of Tolkien-inspired storytelling in a post-HBO, post-AI world.

Recommended Reading (Indicative)

It is recommended that students read or re-familiarise themselves with the following texts prior to
the course:
 Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney or Maria Dahvana Headley
 William Shakespeare, Macbeth and/or The Tempest
 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and one other novel (e.g. Northanger Abbey, Emma,
Persuasion)
 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings (vol. 1)
Film viewings will be organised or assigned weekly, with a focus on accessible and diverse
adaptations.

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