Core Humanities Seminar, spring 2002
"Translation" exercise: Equiano
Today we will approach Equiano’s Narrative—the way it is written and
the effects that has on the way it’s read—by rewriting it. We’ll be working
in pairs today, but each of you will write his or her own paper based on the in-class
exercise.
You may choose your own passage, or use one of these recommended ones:
p. 90; p. 104-5.
There are a few different ways to approach this. Here are some suggestions:
- Rewrite a passage from Equiano as if Behn had written it. Think first, about the
differences between the way the two authors tell a story; what kinds of details does Behn
include, for instance, and what kind of effects is she after? Ditto for Equiano. Once
you’ve come up with some general ideas of the differences, apply them by
"translating" Equiano’s Narrative into an Oroonoko-like
narrative.
- Rewrite a passage from Equiano as if it were being written for Time or Newsweek (or
Cosmo or Sports Illustrated?) today. Follow the same procedure as above.
- Rewrite a passage from Equiano as if you were to film it. Follow the same procedure as
above.