Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" (1955), one of the most controversial
novels ever written, has much more to offer than the topic of
pedophilia: an innovative style, an unreliable narrator, sub-themes
ranging from "the double" to "American pop-culture"... We will try to
find out how these things are mirrored in Kubrick's 1962 and Lyne's
1997 movies. Kurt Vonnegut's post-modern anti-war science fiction novel
"Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969) approaches the topic of World War II by
the means of time travel. Though at the box office the 1972 adaptation
by Geller and Hill was a flop, Vonnegut and the critics loved it. Michael Cunningham's "The Hours" (1998) received a PEN award and a
Pulitzer Prize; its 2002 movie version by Daldry was awarded an Oscar
and a Golden Globe. Unusual is the popular success of so challenging a
work: three interwoven plot lines (Virginia Woolf, a 1950s housewife,
a 1990s lesbian) are used to deal with questions of time and fiction,
love and death, madness and sexuality. You must read "Lolita" before the first session! Better do so with a
pen(-cil) in your hand, marking whatever catches your attention and
making notes of the arising questions. Recommended editions of the
three novels: "Lolita" ISBN 0679723161 (7 EUR), "Slaughterhouse-Five"
ISBN 3125378400 (9 EUR), "The Hours" ISBN 0312243022 (8.50 EUR). For registration please contact alja.berlina@googlemail.com until March 15, 2009. |
