Adaptations of Latin American Literature to Film



The relationship between Latin American literature and cinema has been very prolific. However, the transposition of texts to the screen is not a simple exercise of turning words into images. What operations technical, verbal, and visual should be applied to the written page in order to make a successful film? How can the reader/spectator appreciate and criticize both narratives, the visual and verbal, without privileging one over the other? What can we learn about a short story, a play or a novel from its film adaptation and vice versa? Along with an introduction to the basic concepts and tools for the analysis of film in Spanish, this course answers the previous questions and presents a panoramic view of some of the main movements of Latin American film. Some of the works to study include novels and short stories by writers: Elena Poniatowska, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Sabina Berman, and Sergio Ramírez.



Required text(s): José Emilio Pacheco, "Las batallas en el desierto." Barcelona: Tusquets, 2009. ISBN: 978-8483832356.