First, listen
to
my
short
weekly
lecture
in
mp3 audio format. (or read
the transript of the lecture) - Read a few of the Grimm's Fairy Tales and visit a comprehensive site on the Grimms. As you read these versions, you might compare them to the versions you remember being told.
- Look Over a few versions of the Cinderella tale type --this is the Aarne Thompson tale type 510A: the persecuted heroine. Be sure to at least understand the basic motifs found in the Cinderella tale type.
- You can look over a
few
versions of Jack
and
the Beanstalk tale type -- this is the Aarne Thompson
tale type 328: the treasures of the giant. There are many forms of
literary criticism--formalist, sociological, Marxist, historical... If
interested, perhaps take a look at
how a Freudian might read Jack and the Beanstalk
- Look over a site that offers the text, versions,
criticisms and perhaps more than you ever wanted to know about tale
type 709 Snow
White
- Read a previous student's take on Wicked
Step-Mothers, Fact or Fiction. Besides being a good example of what
I will be looking for in your future essay, it is a good read about a
most relevant topic for this week.
- Read a few of Aesop's Fables
- Read my brief observations on fairy
tales and please read
a
short
section from Bruno Bettleheim's argument about the benefit of fairy
tales in child development Bettleheim was a famous child
pyscholgist who wrote much about literature and its effects on
emotionaly disturbed children.
- Visit a site that has numerous links to all types of folktales (and type-index numbers)
Review the Homefun on Fairy tales
(although this is a
graded homefun option, the second
homefun sheet is not due until the
end of week 11. You will have the choice of doing the homefun on
fairy
tales or the homefun on humor for your second homefun sheet.
Visit
the
"Tasks,
Tests
and
Surveys"
area
and
take the quiz on folktales.
Read
pp
238--268
Visit the Discussion andPrivate Messages board and
respond to my weekly
topic question below. Also reply to the post of at least one other
student.Week 9 Topic Question: The oral history of fairy tales, a history that must pre-date the written history, creates an interesting fact: there is no correct version, no right title, and no specific author for the vast majority of fairy tales you read as a child. Still, What I have found most interesting is that although the unfortunate demise of the Western classics (Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, Eliot, Twain...) seems so likely, the popularity of fairy tales seems to be ensured. Although I have no hard data on this, what children I do know today appear just as interested in fairy tales as I did as a child. Fairy tales have not become outdated, at least from a child's perspective. Perhaps the main difference is that the psychologist, teacher and parent are now paying greater attention to what children read. Psychologists want to know why children are so attracted to such stories, teachers want to know what values/morals, if any, are being learned by the child's reading of the tales, and some parents censor tales according to what they view as the "correctness" of the tale. My personal opinion, and an opinion perhaps based on feeling over evidence, is that many fairy tales can and should play a significant role in a child's socialization and enculturation. After considering a specific fairy tale, take a position as to the tale's narrative merit (story works or does not work well), implied lessons (are any specific morals being presented), and whether you think the tale is worthy of a child's time (how does it benefit or hurt). In other words, is it a good story, what morals/beliefs are being presented, and are these beliefs of use to a child? Why? Why not?