For this class, two "texts", so to speak, will be used: Nikos Kazantzakis's novel Zorba the Greek (the primary text), and director Yannis Smaragdis's 2017 biographical film Kazantzakis (the secondary text). The original novel will be at the base of all the work and reflection that students do, but the work that the class does will have a strong multimedia component.
Each of these different "texts" deals in different ways with similar themes—spirituality, freedom, living life to the fullest, etc.—and these themes are intertwined with particular depictions of Greek life and Greek people. In order to engage with, explore, and critically evaluate how the "text" presents this kind of...