EN258E
: Special Topics:
Fairy
Tales
Fall Semester
2009
Monday
and Thursday 11:00-12:15
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Syllabus
Subject to revision.
Unless otherwise indicated, page numbers
refer to Tatar's The Classic Fairy Tales.
Thursday 9/3: Introduction:
The Meanings of "Fairy Tales"
Monday 9/7: No class meeting.
Thursday 9/10: Little
Red Riding Hood.
Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:
- “Introduction” (pp. ix-xviii)
- “Introduction: Little Red Riding Hood” (3-10)
- “The Story of the Grandmother” (10-11)
- Charles Perrault, “Little Red Riding Hood” (11-13)
- Brothers Grimm, “Little Red Cap” (13-16)
- Italo Calvino, “The False Grandmother” (17-19)
- Chiang Mi, “Goldflower and the Bear” (19-21)
- Bruno Bettelheim, "The Struggle for Meaning" (269-273)
Monday 9/14: Little Red Riding Hood
Texts:
- Angela Carter, "The Company of Wolves" and "The
Werewolf" in The Bloody Chamber.
- On streaming video: "The
Company of Wolves," written by Carter and directed by Neil Jordan
(1985; 92 minutes).
Thursday 9/17: Hansel & Gretel
Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:
- "Introduction: Hansel and Gretel" (179-184)
- Brothers Grimm, "Hansel and Gretel" (184-190)
- Brothers Grimm, "The Juniper Tree" (190-197)
- Joseph Jacobs, "The Rose Tree" (197-199)
- Charles Perrault, "Little Thumbling" (199-209)
- Joseph Jacobs, "Molly Whuppie" (209-211)
- Bruno Bettelheim, "Hansel and Gretel" (273-280)
- Robert Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of
Mother Goose" (280-291)
![](crane_jack3_100.jpg)
Monday 9/21: Jack and the Beanstalk
Read the versions of "Jack
and the Beanstalk" by Joseph Jacobs, Andrew Lang, and Edwin Sidney
Hartland.
Thursday 9/24:
Animal Lovers
Texts:
- Giovanni Straparola, “The Pig King” (42-47)
- Brothers Grimm, “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich”
(47-50)
- “Urashima the Fisherman” (66-68)
- Alexander Afanasev, “The Frog Princess” (68-71)
- “The Swan Maiden” (72-73)
![](swan-maiden-large.jpg)
Monday 9/28: No class meeting.
Thursday 10/1: Snow White
Texts:
- “Introduction: Snow White” (74-80)
- Giambattista Basile, “The Young Slave” (80-83)
- Brothers Grimm, “Snow White” (83-89)
- “Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland’s Daughter”
(90-96)
- S. Gilbert and S. Gubar, “Snow White and Her Wicked
Stepmother” (291-297)
Monday 10/5:"Snow White"
Read in The Classic Fairy Tales: Jack
Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell” (332-352).
On streaming video: Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed by Walt Disney (1939; 84 minutes).
Thursday 10/8: Beauty and the Beast
Texts:
- “Introduction: Beauty and the Beast” (25-32)
- Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, “Beauty and the
Beast” (32-42)
- Angela Carter, “The
Courtship of Mr. Lyon” and "The Tiger's Bride" from The
Bloody Chamber
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Monday 10/12: No class meeting.
Tuesday 10/13 [Monday classes meet]: "Beauty and
the Beast"
On streaming video:
Thursday 10/15: Thesis workshop for first essay.
Monday 10/19: Sleeping Beauty
Texts:
First
essay due.
(Click
here for a brief guide to citing sources.)
Thursday 10/22: Cinderella
Texts:
- “Introduction: Cinderella” (101-107)
- “Yeh-hsien” (107-108)
- Charles
Perrault's "Cinderella."
- Brothers Grimm, “Cinderella” (117-122)
- Lin Lan, “Cinderella” (127-131)
- “The Story of the Black Cow” (125-127)
Monday 10/26: Cinderella
Thursday 10/29: Donkeyskin
Texts:
- Charles Perrault, “Donkeyskin” (109-116)
- Joseph Jacobs, “Catskin” (122-125)
- “The Princess in the Suit of Leather” (131-137)
- Marina Warner, "The Old Wives' Tale" (309-317)
Monday 11/2: Bluebeard
Texts:
- "Introduction: Bluebeard" (138-144)
- Charles Perrault, "Bluebeard" (144-148)
- Brothers Grimm, "Fitcher's Bird" (148-151)
- Brothers Grimm, "The Robber Bridegroom" (151-154)
- Joseph Jacobs, "Mr. Fox" (154-156)
![](gruelle_fitcher1.jpg)
Thursday 11/5: Bluebeard
Texts:
- Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg," (156-178)
- Angela Carter, "The Bloody Chamber," in The
Bloody Chamber
Monday 11/9: Jane Eyre
Text: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Thursday 11/12:
Jane Eyre
Texts:
- Brontë, Jane
Eyre
- Sandra Gilbert, "Plain
Jane's Progress"
Monday 11/16:
Hans Christian Andersen
Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:
- “Introduction: Hans Christian Andersen” (212-216)
- "The Little Match Girl" (233-234)
- "The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf" (235-241)
- "The Red Shoes" (241-245)
- On streaming video: "The
Red Shoes," directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (1938;
133 minutes)
![](the-red-shoes-i.jpg)
Thursday 11/19: Hans Christian Andersen
Texts:
- “The Little Mermaid” (216-232)
- On streaming video: "The
Little Mermaid," directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (1989;
83 minutes)
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Monday 11/23: Library Instructional Session for Research
Paper
Second
essay due.
[Thanksgiving Break]
Monday 11/30: Oral presentations
Thursday 12/3: Oral presentations
Monday 12/7: Oral presentations
Thursday 12/10: Oral presentations
Monday 12/14 (Final exam date):
Research
paper due.