Course Information

Section Description:

This course examines the interdisciplinary context of major fairy tale types, including Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Bluebeard, and the “trickster” tales by the Brothers Grimm, Fulano de Tal, Joseph Jacobs,  Margaret Atwood, and Hans Christian Andersen. The Western literary fairy tale developed as a specific genre in the late seventeenth-nineteenth centuries. This course compares different fairy tale types over time in their linguistic, national, and sociocultural contexts. We’ll study major fairy-tale theories about the classic works by Giovan Franceso Straparola, Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Henriette Julie de Murat, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Perrault, and Oscar Wilde alongside modern adaptations by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Emma Donoghue, and Angela Carter, among others. In particular, we’ll think about critical and theoretical interpretations and changing cultural narratives in the evolution of the tale types.

Outcomes

By the end of the semester students will be able to:

1. Construct thoughtful and persuasive responses using critical thinking and close

     reading skills;

2.  Recognize how literary devices, conventions, forms, and genres influence meaning;

3. Infer the effects of context on literary production and interpretation;

4. Compare literary knowledge to that of other intellectual endeavors, connecting

   literature to complex and enduring questions of aesthetics, self-knowledge, and cultural

   value.

Fourth Hour Requirement: This course meets for 3 contact hours. In the fourth hour, students will also keep a blog for each reading (1 per class). We will respond to blogs at the beginning of the class. 

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:  Students who require classroom accommodations due to a diagnosed disability must submit the appropriate documentation to Disability Support in the Office of Academic Development, 4th Floor Smith Library. A student’s need for accommodations should be made at the beginning of a course because accommodations are not retroactive.

Texts:

The Classic Fairy Tales, 2nd ed, ed. Marie Tatar (Norton Critical Edition, 2017). ISBN: 9780393602975

The Cambridge Companion to Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. Cambridge UP, 2015. 

Online texts posted to the website or sent electronically

**6-8 hours worth of work will be assigned per week. 

Honor Code

All students are honor-bound to refrain from cheating, collusion, plagiarism, and any other unbecoming conduct. Sanctions for violations in this course include the possibility of receiving a zero on the assignment involved, an F in this course or suspension from the university.  ALL violations will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs.

Attendance and Punctuality: You may miss two classes without penalty. On the thrid absence, I place you on academic attendance probation in Starfish. Be advised: These absences are not “freebies.” They should be used for illness and/or emergency and are automatically excused (i.e., you do not need to provide documentation).  On the fifth absence, you will be involuntarily withdrawn from the course. If you participate in a sport or other university approved event, please have your documentation ready, and notify me ahead of time. Remind me throughout the semester before a game, performance, etc. I consider that coming later than 10 minutes is considered absent for the day. If you leave early (more than 10 minutes), that is also an absence for the day.

Punctuality: Please do not arrive late to class or leave early. If you arrive after I have taken attendance, you may be marked absent. I consider that coming later than 10 minutes is considered absent for the day. 

Plagiarism: Representing someone else’s ideas as your own is plagiarism, and you should always cite your source when you quote, paraphrase, draw on, or respond to another person’s work or ideas. We will discuss different forms of plagiarism in class. Please be aware that the penalty for plagiarism is failure of the assignment or course at my discretion. 

Professional Criteria for Written Work: I expect you to take time and consideration in your preparation of all assignments. I take your work seriously and will expect you to do the same. You should consider your audience for the assignments to be an academic one, and you should, at a minimum, type, proofread, title, and document your work according to the MLA guidelines. Assignments that do not meet this basic requirement will be returned to you for revision and will be subject to late penalties.

Grading: 

Participation (includes in-class writing and speaking): 25%

Blogs and Commenting: 25%

Discussion Leads: 25%

Research Paper: 25%