Exam #2: Creative License

The 90's Movie, Clueless, which is based on Austen's Emma (1816)

Sometimes we get fooled by the appearance of older literature—its language, spellings, references, and names—so that we mistakenly assume it’s a museum piece with no relevance to the modern world. However, the ideas and characters in these works are truly timeless, offering a commentary about our thoughts, voices, and actions. Footnotes can help us translate the more difficult bits, and talking about it in class can further elucidate the denser passages. But what do we do for those readers who won’t read footnotes or can’t take a class? How do we show them that the work still ‘reads’ like something written today?

For this take-home exam assignment, I want you to choose a short passage from one of our recent works: The Contract, The Blazing World, The School for Scandal, or Sense and Sensibility. A passage should be no more than a page or two, or any self-contained moment in a book or play (not an entire scene, but part of a scene—a brief interaction between two characters, etc.). Then I want you to write a modernized version of this scene using modern characters, language, and setting. You don’t have to translate it word for word, but give the general sense of the passage and the ideas by translating it into our world. Try to make it look and sound modern, even though if we squint, we can still see Cavendish, Sheridan, or Austen behind it.

FOR EXAMPLE, I might choose a short passage from the argument between Sir Peter Teazle and Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal. I would change their names to modern names, put them in a modern location (a city, town, coffee bar, etc.) and have them give a similar argument, but with more modern-sounding language and references. It might sound something like this:

FRANK: Damn it, Rachel, I’m still your husband, aren’t I? Doesn’t that mean something? All your #metoo nonsense is just a way to erase the very role of men, isn’t it?

RACHEL: Oh, so you want to control me? Well, if that’s what you wanted you should have adopted me instead of having whatever you call this mid-life crisis of yours. Nice skinny jeans, by the way. (Act 2, Scene 1, p.206)

In other words, just have fun with a short passage and make the language sound modern even though the ideas and characters are fundamentally the same. This should only be 2-3 pages long double spaced, so don’t do too much. Just enough to help us imagine how the entire thing would sound like. Be sure to identify the passage before or after your translation.

DUE MONDAY, DECEMBER 3^rd IN CLASS! Maybe we can even read a few of them… [hint, hint] J