EN 12I: Introduction to Literature

Spring Semester 2008

Monday and Thursday 11:00-12:15

Syllabus

Subject to revision

Part I: Children, Parents, and Monsters

Monday 1/14: Introduction: The Meanings of "Fairy Tales"

Thursday 1/17: 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 1/21: No class-- Martin Luther King Day

Thursday 1/24: Jack and the Beanstalk

Read the versions of "Jack and the Beanstalk" by Joseph Jacobs and Andrew Lang.

Monday 1/28: 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)

Thursday 1/31: Animal Lovers

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• 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)

Monday 2/4: Thesis workshop.

Part II: Women, Love, and Marriage

Thursday 2/7: 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)

First essay due.

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

Monday 2/11: Snow White

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• S. Gilbert and S. Gubar, “Snow White and Her Wicked Stepmother” (291-297)
• Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell” (332-352)

On Sunday 2/10, watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Walt Disney, 84 minutes) on Campus Cable, Channel 107, starting at 12:00 AM and repeating every two hours through 10:00 PM.

Thursday 2/14: 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)

Tuesday 2/19 [Monday classes meet]:Cinderella

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• “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)

Also read Charles Perrault's "Cinderella."

Thursday 2/21:Donkeyskin

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• 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 2/25: Bluebeard

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

• "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)

Thursday 2/28: Thesis workshop

[SPRING BREAK]

Part III: Classic Revisions

Monday 3/10:"The Little Mermaid"

Read in The Classic Fairy Tales:

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

Thursday 3/13: "The Little Mermaid" Revised

Sometime over Spring Break, watch the Walt Disney production of "The Little Mermaid" (1989).

Second essay due.

Monday 3/17: "Little Red Riding Hood" Revisited

Read Angela Carter's short story "The Company of Wolves."

Also, on Sunday 3/16 watch the film The Company of Wolves, written by Carter and directed by Neil Jordan (92 minutes) on Campus Cable, Channel 107, starting at 12:00 AM and repeating every two hours through 10:00 PM.

[EASTER BREAK]

Thursday 3/27: "Beauty and the Beast" Revisited

In The Classic Fairy Tales, read Angela Carter's "The Tiger's Bride," pp. 50-66.

Monday 3/31: "Cinderella" Revisited

On Sunday 3/30, watch the film Ever After (directed by Andy Tennant, 100 minutes) on Campus Cable, Channel 107, starting at 12:00 AM and repeating every two hours through 10:00 PM.

Thursday 4/3: [No class meeting.]

Monday 4/7: "Bluebeard" Revisited

In The Classic Fairy Tales, read Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg," pp. 156-178.

Thursday 4/10:Thesis workshop, and Introduction to the Research Paper.

Part IV: Researching Fairy Tales

Monday 4/14: Library instructional session.

Third essay due.

Thursday 4/17: Class presentations.

Monday 4/21: Individual conferences.

Thursday 4/24:Class presentations.

Monday 4/28: Class presentations.

Research paper due.

Friday 5/2: Research papers returned.

Wednesday 5/7: Revisions of research paper due.