After each date, you will see the required homework (to be done before the beginning of class) and then what we will be doing in class on that day.
Sept. 23 Green Sheet. Books. Introductions through manufacturing myths.Urban Legends. Define Myths, Folktales, & Legends.
Sept. 25 Read "Frost," "Baba Yaga," "Alenoushka," and "The Fire-Bird" in Favorite Russian Fairy Tales. Bring Tatar to class. Plus read "Momotaro" (Japanese folk tale) in Handout. Russian Folklore. Propp's Morphology of the Folktale. Japanese Folklore and its influence on Japanese comics of World War II. Discuss connections between folktales and cultural values.
Sept. 30 Read "The Tale of Ivan," "The Llanfabon Changeling," "Beth Gellert," and "The Sea-Maiden" in Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales. For extra credit, read & summarize other tales. Celtic Folklore. Map of the UK!! Remnants of Celts in modern-day UK. Looking at these tales from a structural (Propp's Morphology) point of view. Doing cross-cultural comparisons.
Oct. 2 Read "Sleeping Beauty," "Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Rapunzel" in Class Reader plus Bettelheim in Tatar 269-80. If you have extra time, you may want to read the other tales in Tatar's Hansel and Gretel chapter 179-211. European Folklore. Psychological/ psychoanalytic analysis of folklore.
Oct. 7 Read "Little Red Riding Hood" in Tatar 3-24 and "Cinderella" in Tatar 101-122. No Class. Instead, email in your answers to the study questions and watch ONE of these films this week: Cinderella, Snow White, or Beauty and the Beast, any version you choose. All are available at video stores.
Oct. 9 Read in Tatar 83-89 plus "The Robber Bridegroom" 151-154 plus "Beauty and the Beast" 32-42. Extra Credit possible. No Class. See note for Oct. 7. Get ready to fly to London!!
Oct. 11-12 Fly to London!!
Oct. 13 Orientation.
Oct. 14 Read the myth of Galatea in the Class Reader plus Rosenberg's Introduction to World Mythology, xv-xxii plus "The Emergence" 497-503. Extra Credit possible. Native American Mythology. Difference between Folklore and Mythology. Run over to British Museum to see Celtic materials if we have time.Also tonight we will go to My Fair Lady (a reworking of the Galatea myth) which is free as part of our British Life and Culture class!!
Oct. 16 Read Genesis selections in Reader plus Rosenberg 149-158. Creation Myths. Middle-Eastern Myth. Watch Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Adventure. What is a hero according to Campbell?
Oct. 18 Visit (Stonehenge) and Salisbury as part of British Life and Culture.
Oct. 21 Study for Midterm. Read Gilgamesh in Rosenberg 172-187. FIRST MIDTERM. Plus discuss Gilgamesh.
Oct. 23 Finish Gilgamesh in Rosenberg 187-203 and Isis-Osiris-Seth Egyptian myth in Rosenberg 159-168. Look at Joseph Campbell's ideas about these myths, then go to British Museum to look at artifacts from Assyrian and Egyptian culture.
Oct. 28 Read Rosenberg 3-31 in Reader. Greek Mythology. More on Campbell's theories.
Oct. 30 Read "Psyche and Cupid" in Reader plus begin The Odyssey 75-89. Greek & Roman Mythology. More theory. We will discuss Rosenberg 31-44.
Nov. 1 Visit Greenwich as part of British Life and Culture.
Nov. 4 Finish The Odyssey 89-109. Film and discussion of The Odyssey. Look at Elgin Marbles and Greek section of British Museum.
Nov. 5 Today is Guy Fawkes' Day. It is historical but it also has some mythic (and Wiccan?) overtones.
Nov. 6 Read Rosenberg 326-359, The Ramayana. Indian Mythology. Discuss The Ramayana. More on analysis of myths. Tonight we will go to see Reduced Shakespeare Company as part of British Life and Culture.
Nov. 11 Study for Second Midterm and read Rosenberg 359-69 (Chinese creation myths.) SECOND MIDTERM. After the midterm, I will review ideas about the Goddess from the beginnings to modern times, with some attention to Wicca and its connections to Macbeth.
Nov. 13 Read Journey to the West in Reader. Chinese Mythology. Connections to Taoism and Buddhism. How is it different from other myths?
Nov. 18 Read Northern European Mythology, 205-226 in Rosenberg. Northern European Mythology. Trickster Figures.
Nov. 19 Possibly go to see Art as part of British Life and Culture.
Nov. 20 Read the Arthur Legend, 288-300 in Rosenberg. Watch film versions of the Arthur Legend. Discuss connections to Celtic Folklore and actual history.
Nov. 22 Visit Stratford upon Avon as part of British Life and Culture.
Nov. 25 Finish the Arthur Legend, 300-323 in Rosenberg. Discuss the differences between myth, folklore, and legend, plus ideas of heroism.
Nov. 27 Work on your Paper!
Dec. 2 Write your paper and bring at least 4 pages to class. Get your class presentation ready. You will get 10 points for bringing your draft of your essay to class. Class presentations.
Dec. 4 Turn in your paper. Study for Final Exam. Party and Final Exam.