Humanists are interested in analyzing documents and stories to gain more insight into us as individuals and the society we live in. In this unit, you will be taking a story and adapting it into a new or updated form (with the help of AI). This will give greater exposure to the text and in turn, give you greater insight into what makes that particular text significant. By creating an adaptation, you will practice connecting with a broader audience unfamiliar with your text and get them to understand its significance.
Rhetorical Chart:
| Role | Audience | Purpose | Genre | Rhetorical Situation |
| Writer/Humanist | People unfamiliar and familiar with your source text. | To expose a new audience to a literary work that they might not be familiar with. | Adaptation | You are a writer and have a favorite story that you want to adapt for modern times. In order to be successful, you will need to change the story, while retaining the core elements that make it special. |
Overview
You are writer for a company invested in bringing books and stories into a generation that would not normally read and engage with it. These adaptations serve several purposes: they cultivate and maintain a following of interested readers, promote public support of humanistic methodologies, and most importantly, inform the public about classic literary text through games. Lastly, you will write up your justifications for your adaptation through research of historical and literary sources.
Feeder 1:
The first step towards your adaptation is creating a project proposal. You will select one story you have read as your object of adaptation, and provide a reading of that story. From there, you will describe briefly your idea of how you would go about adapting that story. This doesn’t need to be a fully fleshed out idea just yet, but should reflect critical thinking about the source text, and why your particular reading of the story would work well in game form. But if your story is long, you might want to think about what section you are going to adapt.
You need to provide 2-3 specific points in the story and provide your close-reading of those points.
This doesn’t need to be overly long, but should not be under 300 words. There is no upper limit in length, and the more time you spend here, the easier time you’ll have for the second feeder.
Due Sunday, November 12th, at 11:59pm
Feeder 2:
Using AI as a helper, write an adaptation of a short story. It doesn’t need to be long or complicated, just needs to do the work outlined in the project proposal. Focus here should be on the process of adapting the source text into something aligning to your vision. You should demonstrate a strong understanding of what adaptation can do well and do not do well, in terms of the source text and your understanding of it.
Due Sunday, November 19th, at 11:59pm
Unit Project:
Present your reading of the primary text. This should be a detailed and organized argument that utilizes multiple pieces of evidence from the text itself. It should reference specific quotes, narrative structures, and historical context, along with any other pieces of evidence you think are important to your reading. There should be a strong thesis at the center of this part of the assignment as to the project of the text, or at least one thing being accomplished.
Once you have your formal reading, write up your own project. Again, this should be detailed and organized along similar lines, but keeping in mind the pedagogical nature of the project. You should be leading your readers to the central thesis of your own work. Present evidence, and refer back to your reading of the primary text to inform the choices you made in creating your adaptation.
In order to give enough attention to both parts of the assignment, you should have 2-3 pages of writing, double-spaced.
Due Sunday, December 3rd, at 11:59pm