EN103: Fairy Tales

Fall Semester 2011

Tuesday and Friday 9:30-10:45

Syllabus

Subject to revision.

Unless otherwise indicated, page numbers refer to Tatar's The Classic Fairy Tales.

Tuesday 9/6: Introduction: The Meanings of Fairy Tales

Friday 9/9: Little Red Riding Hood.

Texts:

• “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)
• Zohar Shavit, "The Concept of Childhood and Children's Fairy Tales: Test Case - 'Little Red Riding Hood'" (317-332)
• Jack Zipes, "Cross-Cultural Connections and the Contamination of the Classic Fairy Tale" [Sourcebook]
• Siegfried Neumann, "The Brothers Grimm as Collectors and Editors of German Folktales" [Sourcebook]
• Author Biographies: Charles Perrault; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm [Sourcebook]

Tuesday 9/13: Little Red Riding Hood

Texts:

• Kellie Wells, "The Girl, the Wolf, the Crone" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 353-360)
• 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).

Friday 9/16: 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)
• Alissa Nutting, "The Brother and the Bird" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 30-41)
• Francine Prose, "Hansel and Gretel" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 42-58)

Tuesday 9/20: Jack and the Beanstalk

Texts:

• Versions of "Jack and the Beanstalk" by Joseph Jacobs, Andrew Lang, and Edwin Sidney Hartland
• Michael Martone, "A Bucket of Warm Spit" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 254-269)

Friday 9/23: 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)
• Maria Tatar, "Sex and Violence: The Hard Core of Fairy Tales" (364-373)
• Author Biography: Giovanni Straparola [Sourcebook]

Tuesday 9/27: 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)
• Author Biography: Giambattista Basile [Sourcebook]

Friday 9/30: Snow White

Texts:

• Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell” (332-352).
• On streaming video: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed by Walt Disney (1939; 84 min.)
• On streaming video: Snow White: A Tale of Terror, directed by Michael Cohn (1997; 100 min.)
• Kim Addonizio, "Ever After" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 512-526)

Tuesday 10/4: Beauty and the Beast

Texts:

• “Introduction: Beauty and the Beast” (25-32)
• Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, “Beauty and the Beast” (32-42)
• Author Biography: Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont [Sourcebook]
• Angela Carter, “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon” and "The Tiger's Bride" from The Bloody Chamber

Friday 10/7: Beauty and the Beast

On streaming video:

• "Beauty and the Beast" directed by Jean Cocteau (1946; 90 minutes)
• the Walt Disney production of "Beauty and the Beast" (1991; 90 minutes).

Tuesday 10/11: No class meeting. [Monday classes meet.]

Friday 10/14: Thesis workshop for first essay.

Tuesday 10/18: Sleeping Beauty

Texts:

• Giambattista Basile, "Sun, Moon, and Talia" [Sourcebook]
• Charles Perrault, "Sleeping Beauty" [Sourcebook]
• Brothers Grimm, "Brier Rose" [Sourcebook]
• Rabih Alameddine, "A Kiss to Wake the Sleeper" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 411-422)
• On streaming video: “Talk to Her,” directed by Pedro Almodóvar (2002; 112 minutes)

First essay due.

(Click here for a brief guide to citing sources.)

Friday 10/21: Cinderella

Texts:

• “Introduction: Cinderella” (101-107)
• “Yeh-hsien” (107-108)
• Brothers Grimm, “Cinderella” (117-122)
• Lin Lan, “Cinderella” (127-131)
• “The Story of the Black Cow” (125-127)
• Charles Perrault, "Cinderella" [Sourcebook]

Tuesday 10/25:Cinderella

• Jodi Kantor, "Love the Riches, Lose the Rags"
• On streaming video: "Ever After," directed by Andy Tennant (1998; 100 minutes).

Friday 10/28: 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)
• Aimee Bender, "The Color Master" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 366-385)

Tuesday 11/1: 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)

Friday 11/4: Bluebeard

Texts:

• Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg," (156-178)
• Joyce Carol Oates, "Blue-Bearded Lover" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 390-393)
• John Updike, "Bluebeard in Ireland" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 394-410)
• Angela Carter, "The Bloody Chamber," in The Bloody Chamber
• On streaming video: What Lies Beneath, directed by Robert Zemeckis (2000; 130 min.)
• On streaming video: Barbe Bleue, directed by Catherine Breillat (2010; 80 min.)

Tuesday 11/8: Rumpelstiltskin

Texts:

• Basile, "The Seven Pieces of Bacon Rind" [Sourcebook]
• Marie-Jeanne Lhéritier, "Ricdin-Ricdon" [Sourcebook]
• Brothers Grimm, "Rumpelstiltskin" [Sourcebook]
• Jack Zipes, "Spinning with Fate: Rumpelstiltskin and the Decline of Female Productivity" [Sourcebook]
• Author Biography: Marie-Jeanne Lhéritier [Sourcebook]
• Neil LaBute, "With Hair of Hand-Spun Gold" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 74-83)

Friday 11/11: 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)

Tuesday 11/15: Hans Christian Andersen

Texts:

• Hans Christian Andersen, “The Little Mermaid” (216-232)
• Katherine Vaz, "What the Conch Shell Sings When the Body Is Gone" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 200-220)
• On streaming video: "The Little Mermaid," directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (1989; 83 minutes)

Friday 11/18: Jane Eyre

Text: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapters 1-15

Tuesday 11/22: Jane Eyre

Texts: Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapters 16-26

[Thanksgiving Break]

Tuesday 11/29: Jane Eyre

Texts:

• Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapters 27-38
• Sandra Gilbert, "Plain Jane's Progress" (Bedford Edition of Jane Eyre, pp. 475-501)

Friday 12/2: Strategies and approaches to the research paper

Second essay due.

Tuesday 12/6: Post-Modern Fairy Tales

Texts:

• Gabriel García-Márquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (Sourcebook)
• Italo Calvino, "The Distance of the Moon" (Sourcebook)
• Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, "The Father" and "The Cabbage-Patch Mother" (Sourcebook), and "I'm Here" (My Mother She Killed Me..., pp. 14-29)

Response paper portfolio and summative essay due.

Friday 12/9: Last class meeting

Annotated bibliography for critical research paper due.

Thursday 12/15: Research paper due.