Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An intensive study of some of the major works which have had a formative influence on the structure and development of western thought. Reading and discussion of primary texts and the major themes which emerge from them will introduce students to essential philosophical, literary, social and religious themes of western civilization. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen, usually translated simply as Fairy Tales, emerged from a Romantic ferment of enthusiasm for the oral traditions and peasant folk-life that the Industrial Revolution was sweeping away. First published in 1812-15, the Grimms’ collection rapidly achieved the status it retains in popular estimation: as the gold standard among such folklore compilations; the richest, most accurate and scientifically prepared of the early printed documentations of traditional European storytelling.

The truth is that the Grimms’ informants were mostly not the illiterate countryfolk whom they wanted their readers to imagine. And the seeming timelessness of their versions of the tales is at odds with the brothers’ editorial practice. Their texts were continually revised from one edition to the next of their bestselling work, to reflect changes in the Grimms’ target audience as well as in their theories as to the tales’ origins and meaning.

Despite such misconceptions, the Grimms’ collection is a cultural treasure of the highest importance. Providing the main foundation for our most cherished popular continua of fairytale lore – for Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin, for Snow White and Red Riding Hood – their collection is, as noted in the UNESCO Memory of the World database, “like a concave mirror that captures a fairy tale tradition shaped by several cultures, compiles it in a new form, and reflects it in such a way that a new tradition emerges which subsequently unfolds with worldwide impact.”

Students in HUM 202 can look forward to a deep engagement with particular tales from the Grimms’ collection, in all their vitality and variation across time, space, and media. Our readings will be informed by the most influential perspectives afforded for understanding the tales’ evolution and meaning, by folklorists, literary critics, psychologists, and social historians.

Grading

Materials

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