The Well
Ringwood
:
Viking
,
1986
Z385481
1986
single work
novel
(taught in 17 units)
'Miss Hester Harper, middle-aged and eccentric, brings Katherine into her emotionally impoverished life. Together they sew, cook gourmet dishes for two, run the farm, make music and throw dirty dishes down the well. One night, driving along the deserted track that leads to the farm, they run into a mysterious creature. They heave the body from the roo bar and dump it into the farm's deep well. But the voice of the injured intruder will not be stilled and, most disturbing of all, the closer Katherine is drawn to the edge of the well, the farther away she gets from Hester.' (From the publisher's website.)
Film is a modern invention that has arguably transformed the way stories are communicated as well as the way writers and everyday readers view the world around them. This course introduces students to a number of twentieth-century novels and films including, Henry James' Turn of the Screw (paired with The Innocents (1961)), Virginia Woolf's Orlando (paired with Sally Potter's film of the same name) and Elizabeth Jolley's The Well. We will closely analyse and evaluate the similarities and differences between novel/film pairs. In doing so, we will endeavour to understand two fundamentally different forms of storytelling: the one based on print and the other on audio-visual communication. By the end of the course, students will be better able to formulate a response to the following question: what is lost and what is gained in the process of adapting a print narrative to screen?
Two essays of 2000 words (45%); tutorial attendance/participation (10%). Essays are focused on a novel/film pair. Students are expected to familiarise themselves with theories of adaptation to be convered in lectures and made available in secondary reading material.
