This course analyzes the structure, symbolism, and function of fairy tales and their influence on literature and popular culture. While we will primarily discuss the works of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, we also will consider fairy tales drawn from a number of different national traditions and historical periods, including the Dobsinsky's volumes. Various strategies for interpreting fairy tales will be applied, including psychoanalysis, feminism, social and historical approaches. We will explore abuses of fairy tales for commercial and political purposes. We will trace back and examine specific tale types and examine their transformations in various media discourses. We will also explore the postmodernist revisions of fairy tales by Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood and other writers.

WEEK

THEME

1

1.     When Dreams Come True [WDCT, 1-31]

 

2

2.     Social History of the Fairy Tale Genre [FTAS, 1-12]

 

3

3.     Anthropological and Archetypal  Approaches: “Cinderella” [CCFT 150-166]

·       Quiz 1

4

4.     Psychological Approaches:  “Snow White” [SW]

 

5

5.     Anatomy of Fairy Tale:   [GRFT]

 

6

6.     Oral Wonder Tales and their Narrators [FTAS 28-56]

·       Quiz 2

7

7.     Violence: The Hard Core of Fairy Tales [THF 3-39]

 

8

8.     Taming the Beast [THF 156-179]

 

9

9.     Wicked Stepmothers (report 2)

·       Quiz 3

10

10.   To Eat or To Be Eaten “Little Brother and Little Sister”, “Bracek Jelencek”

 

11

11.   Female Productivity: Spinning and Fairy Tales [BB 353-369]

 

12

12.   Happily Ever After? [BB 273-335]

 

13

13.   Wrap Up Session

 

Course Description

This course analyzes the structure, symbolism, and function of fairy tales and their influence on literature and popular culture. While we will primarily discuss the works of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, we also will consider fairy tales drawn from a number of different national traditions and historical periods, including the Dobsinsky's volumes. Various strategies for interpreting fairy tales will be applied, including psychoanalysis, feminism, social and historical approaches. We will explore abuses of fairy tales for commercial and political purposes. We will trace back and examine specific tale types and examine their transformations in various media discourses. We will also explore the postmodernist revisions of fairy tales by Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood and other writers.

 

Assessment

Presentation 30%, response paper 15%, course work 10%, research paper (5/10 pages) 30%, quizzes 15% (Introduction by 30 November, peer-reviewed draft 10 January, final version by 20 January)

Response Papers:

Jack Zipes. “Fairy Tale Discourse: Toward a Social History of the Genre.” In Zipes, J. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, pp. 1-12. (deadline 5 October)

Shuli Barzilai. “’Snow White: The Mother’s Story.”  Signs, Vol. 15, No. 3, (Spring, 1990), pp. 515-534 (deadline: 19 October)

“FROM NAGS TO WITCHES: Stepmothers and Other Ogres”. In Maria Tatar: The Hard Facts of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Princeton UP, 1987, pp. 137-156. (deadline:  9 November)

 

References:

Maria Tatar: The Hard Facts of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Princeton UP, 1987.

Andrew Teverson. Fairy Tale. Routledge 2013. [FT]

Jack Zipes. Why Fairy Tales Stick. Routledge, 2006. [WFS]

Shuli Barzilai. “’Snow White: The Mother’s Story.”  Signs, Vol. 15, No. 3, (Spring, 1990), pp. 515-534 [SW]

Jack Zipes. Fairy Tale as Myth. Myth as Fairy Tale. The University Press of Kentucky, 1994. [FTM]

Jack Zipes. Fairy Tale and the Art of Subversion. Routledge, 2012. [FTAS]

Jack Zipes. Spells of Enchantment. Viking, 1991. [SE]

Jack Zipes. When Dreams Come True. Routledge, 2007. [WDCT]

Marina Warner. From the Beast to the Blonde. Vintage, 1995. [BB]

David Haase: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales. The Greenwood Press, 2008. [GEFT]

Jack Zipes (ed). The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Bantam Books, 1987.

Pavol Dobsinsky. (ed) Slovenske prostonarodne povesti, Tatran, 1973.

Angela Carter (ed.) Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales. Virago, 2012.