EN103: Fairy Tales

Spring Semester 2012

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 1/17: Introduction: The Meanings of Fairy Tales

Friday 1/20: 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)
• 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]
• Author Biographies: Charles Perrault; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm [Sourcebook]

Tuesday 1/24: Little Red Riding Hood

Texts:

• Italo Calvino, “The False Grandmother” (17-19)
• Chiang Mi, “Goldflower and the Bear” (19-21)
• 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 1/27: Hansel & Gretel

Texts:

• "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)

Tuesday 1/31: 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 2/3: 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 2/7: Thesis workshop for first essay.

Friday 2/10: Sleeping Beauty

Texts:

• Giambattista Basile, "Sun, Moon, and Talia" [Sourcebook]
• Charles Perrault, "Sleeping Beauty" [Sourcebook]
• Brothers Grimm, "Brier Rose" [Sourcebook]
• Siegfried Neumann, "The Brothers Grimm as Collectors and Editors of German Folktales" [Sourcebook]
• 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.)

Tuesday 2/14: 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 2/17: 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 2/21: No class meeting. [Monday classes meet.]

Friday 2/24: 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

Tuesday 2/28: 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).

Friday 3/2: 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 3/6: Cinderella

• Jodi Kantor, "Love the Riches, Lose the Rags" [Sourcebook]
• Peggy Orenstein, "What's Wrong with Cinderella?" [Sourcebook]
• On streaming video: "Ever After," directed by Andy Tennant (1998; 100 minutes).

Friday 3/9: 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)

[SPRING BREAK]

Tuesday 3/20: Thesis workshop for second essay.

Friday 3/23: 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)

Second essay due.

Tuesday 3/27: 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.)

Friday 3/30: Hans Christian Andersen

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• “Introduction: Hans Christian Andersen” (212-216)
• Hans Christian Andersen, “The Little Mermaid” (216-232)
• On streaming video: "The Little Mermaid," directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (1989; 83 minutes)

Tuesday 4/3: Jane Eyre

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

Friday 4/6: No class meeting -- Easter Break.

Tuesday 4/10: Jane Eyre

Texts: Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapters 16-26

Friday 4/13: Jane Eyre

Texts:

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

Tuesday 4/17: Thesis workshop for third essay.

Friday 4/20: Library instructional session.

Third essay due.

Tuesday 4/24: Strategies and approaches for the research paper

Primary sources for research paper due.

Friday 4/27: Individual conferences.

Annotated bibliography for research paper due.

Tuesday 5/1: Oral presentations.

Research paper due.

Sunday 5/6: Trip to Westport Country Playhouse for Performance of "Into the Woods"

Vans leave the Fairfield campus at 2:15 PM. Performance at 3:00 PM with "symposium" to follow. Dinner after symposium; return to campus by about 7:00 PM.

Tuesday 5/8, 8:00-11:00 AM: Oral presentations.

Response paper portfolio and summative essay due.