This document provides an overview of class material and assignments for an English literature course focused on adaptations of A Christmas Carol. It includes: 1) Upcoming due dates for Paper 1 and poetry performances. 2) Reading assignments on Victorian poetry by Arnold, Browning, and Tennyson to be completed for the next class. 3) A discussion of different ways students can participate in class and current participation grades. 4) A proposed adaptation of A Christmas Carol as a film or television episode, asking students to outline the premise, characters, plot, and one sample scene.

1. A song from Jane Eyre: The Musical

2. ELIT 46C
Day 8
ADAPTATION

3. So much business!
(But not the Scrooge kind.)
Paper 1 due on Canvas tomorrow at noon
(unless you’ve arranged an extension).
Poetry performances due Tuesday in class (if
you signed up).
Reading for Tuesday: Arnold, Browning, and
Tennyson.
◦ Excerpts from Tennyson, In Memoriam: Prologue
and Sections 6, 8, 13, 27-30, 59, 129-131. (Also,
read the Norton description of what’s going on
in that poem.)
Please start reading Jekyll & Hyde early!
What participation looks like today:
◦ 3 total points
◦ 1 point individual in full class discussion
◦ 2 points for group work (as long as you talk in
your group).

4. Overall Participation (as of yesterday)
The RAW overall participation totals will be
curved and then converted into a letter grade
for your final participation grade in the course
(worth 20%).
As of 5/2:
◦ Mean: 32
◦ Range: 2-43
◦ Std Dev: 9
Based on the distribution, this is what I think
would be fair participation grades if I assigned
them today:
◦ 38-43 = A range (18)
◦ 27-37 = B range (19)
◦ 16-26 = C range (10)
◦ 0-15 = D or F (2)
Look up your score on Canvas under “Wk4
Participation Total”
IF you don’t like this grade, you have seven
weeks to do something about it.
What could you do?

5. Why “staves”?
Annmarie: Why were the chapters called
staves?”
Stave is a musical term: the five lines that
notes are written on. (Also called a “staff.”)
This novella is, after all, a Christmas carol.

6. IF you celebrate Christmas,
what is a part of your
celebration?
MAYBE TERRIBLE CHRISTMAS MOVIES?

7. How does A Christmas Carol define our
version of Christmas?
WHAT SEEMS RECOGNIZABLE HERE?

8. Victorian Christmas
At the end of the 18th century, Christmas not much
celebrated in England (not a business holiday).
1833: first significant collection of Christmas carols
published.
1843: Henry Cole invents Christmas cards.
1843: A Christmas Carol.
1848: Prince Albert (Queen Vic’s husband) and the
Christmas tree (see picture at right).
1848: Christmas crackers invented.
How might A Christmas Carol have
affected/reflected key developments in Christmas?

9. “[A]s Scrooge and the Spirit went along the
streets, the brightness of the roaring fires in
kitchens, parlours, and all sorts of rooms, was
wonderful. Here, the flickering blaze showed
preparations for a cosy dinner, with hot plates
baking through and through before the fire,
and deep red curtains, ready to be drawn, to
shut out cold and darkness. There, all the
children of the house were running out into
the snow to meet their married sisters,
brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts, and be the
first to greet them.” (42)
Victorians centered Christmas on the home,
the family, and on a particular set of positive
emotions/affects (cheer, generosity, goodwill,
etc.)

10. Adaptation

11. A Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000)
Intro: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=2m
NYC and niece: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=15m17s
Marley: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=24m45s
Ghost of Christmas Past: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=31m12s
Success over love: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=43m56s
Some questions to consider:
1. How do they translate it into contemporary life? What seems
accurate to the “spirit” (lol) of the original? What seems like a
significant alteration?
2. How does making the main character a woman of color
change our experience of the story? How does it change the politics
of the story?
3. How does the movie deal with Christmas commercialism?

12. Propose your own adaptation of ACC
Task: Adapt A Christmas Carol for big or small
screen.
◦ Be as creative as you want.
◦ Could be an entirely new project or could even
be an “episode” of an already existing series.
◦ Don’t worry about cost.
Come up with: “premise,” setting (time and
place), characters and casting (you can suggest
actors), plot outline, maybe even a title?
What do you want viewers to get out of this?
What aspects of the original do you want to be
faithful to?
◦ Characters
◦ Events
◦ Emotions, affects (cheer, generosity, etc.)
◦ The moral
◦ The focus on individual change
What do you want to change and why?
Is there an aspect of the original you would
like to subvert?
Propose one scene (in some detail) that you
know you will need in your adaptation.

13. Homework
Paper 1 is due Friday, May 4 by NOON (12 PM) on
Canvas.
READ for Tuesday, May 8:
◦ Matthew Arnold: “Dover Beach” (1387-88).
◦ Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess” (1282-83); “A Toccata
of Galuppi’s” (1290-91).
◦ Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “Ulysses” (1170-72); “In Memoriam
A. H. H.” excerpts: prologue, sectns 6, 8, 13, 27-30, 59, 129-
131 (1187-1235); “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1235-
36).
Post your question for Discussion Post 5/8 by 6 PM on
Mon, May 7 (and two responses to classmates by 9 AM
the next day).
Prepare your reading for the OPTIONAL Victorian Poetry
Performance if you signed up for it.