EN 12A: Introduction to Literature

Fall Semester 2004

Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-10:45 in CNS 209

Syllabus

Subject to revision

Friday 9/10: Introduction.

Tuesday 9/14: 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)
• Bruno Bettelheim, “The Struggle for Meaning” (269-273)

Friday 9/17: Little Red Riding Hood

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• James Thurber, “The Little Girl and the Wolf” (16-17)
• Italo Calvino, “The False Grandmother” (17-19)
• Chiang Mi, “Goldflower and the Bear” (19-21)
• Roald Dahl, “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” (21-22)
• Roald Dahl, “The Three Little Pigs” (22-24)
• Zohar Shavit, “Test Case—‘Little Red Riding Hood’” (317-332)

Tuesday 9/21: Little Red Riding Hood

Read in the Electronic Reserves [password: red]:

• Angela Carter, “The Company of Wolves”

View on Campus Cable:

• “The Company of Wolves,” directed by Neil Jordan. Running time: 92 minutes

Screening times:

• Sunday 9/19 at 9:30 PM on Channel 66
• Monday 9/20 at 10:00 PM on Channel 68

If other screening times become available, they will be posted here.

Friday 9/24: Thesis workshop.

Tuesday 9/28: Shakespeare, Othello

Read Othello, Act 1.

Draft of first essay due.

Friday 10/1: Shakespeare, Othello

Read Othello, Acts 2-3.

Tuesday 10/5: Shakespeare, Othello

Read Othello, Acts 4-5.

First essay due.

Wednesday 10/6: Othello, produced by Cheek by Jowl, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Bus will leave from Alumni Hall at 4:00 PM.

Show is at 7:00 PM.

Friday 10/8: Shakespeare, Othello

Tuesday 10/12: Shakespeare, Othello

Friday 10/15: Thesis workshop.

Tuesday 10/19: Beauty and the Beast.

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• “Introduction: Beauty and the Beast” (25-32)
• Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, “Beauty and the Beast” (32-42)
• Giovanni Straparola, “The Pig King” (42-47)
• Brothers Grimm, “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” (47-50)

Draft of second essay due.

Friday 10/22: Beauty and the Beast.

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• Angela Carter, “The Tiger’s Bride” (50-66)
• “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)

View on Campus Cable: "La Belle et la Bête," directed by Jean Cocteau (90 minutes) at one of the following times:

• Tuesday, October 19 at 9:30 on Channel 67
• Wednesday, October 20 at 9:30 on Channel 67
• Thursday, October 21 at 10:00 on Channel 67

Tuesday 10/26: Snow White

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• “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)

Friday 10/29: Snow White

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• Ann Sexton, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (96-100)
• Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell” (332-352)

View on Campus Cable, "Snow White," directed by Walt Disney (84 minutes), at the following times:

• Tuesday, October 26 at 7:00 on Channel 69
• Wednesday, October 27 at 9:00 on Channel 69
• Thursday, October 28 at 9:00 on Channel 69

Second essay due.

Tuesday 11/2: Cinderella

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• “Introduction: Cinderella” (101-107)
• “Yeh-hsien” (107-108)
• Charles Perrault, “Donkeyskin” (109-116)
• Brothers Grimm, “Cinderella” (117-122)
• Karen Rowe, “To Spin a Yarn” (297-308)

Friday 11/5: Cinderella

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• Joseph Jacobs, “Catskin” (122-125)
• “The Story of the Black Cow” (125-127)
• Lin Lan, “Cinderella” (127-131)
• “The Princess in the Suit of Leather” (131-137)
• Marina Warner, “The Old Wives’ Tale” (309-317)

Tuesday 11/9: The Little Mermaid.

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• “Introduction: Hans Christian Andersen” (212-216)
• “The Little Mermaid” (216-232)

Friday 11/12: Thesis workshop.

Tuesday 11/16: Library instructional session.

Draft of third essay due.

Friday 11/19: Class presentations. [Zimakas-Lauto]

Tuesday 11/23: Class presentations. [Harriman-Barry]

Third essay due.

Friday 11/26: No class—Thanksgiving Break

Tuesday 11/30: Methods and problems in research and writing.

Friday 12/3: Methods and problems in research and writing.

Draft of research paper due.

Tuesday 12/7: Individual conferences.

Friday 12/10: Research paper due.