THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN MY COURSE!

Welcome Life Long Learners! I am delighted that you are participating in my course. I am looking forward to getting to know you all and being part of this adventure with you. This mini course examines the great fairy tale tradition in various parts of the world that still persists today. We will explore some of your favorite tales and how these tales are studied, ways in which to interpret them and the common themes/motifs present. Together we will employ socio—historical, psychoanalytical, structural and gender theories to aid our understanding of ways to understand these tales. We will also draw distinctions between the fairy tale, legend and myth.

Course Outline

Welcome to The Fairy Tale Mini.

The meeting times for this course will be Mondays from 7:40pm—8:40pm, August 5 —25 2024. All meetings will be held via zoom. Study questions will be provided prior to each meeting. All reading material will be made available to you via this webpage. Here is a breakdown of what our schedule will be:

Week

1. Introduction. We will begin by opening a discussion on the history of studying fairy tales, who collected them and who told them. Our exploration will begin with a look at Arabic, European, Russian and Indian tales, before we move to African and East Asian tales. We draw a delineation between the fairy tale, legend and myth. During this session we will also review the key terminology used to study these tales. Prior to this meeting you will receive the reading material and study questions.

   Readings for Week 1

   • The Feather of Finist the Bright Falcon
   • Maid Maleen
   • Allerleirauh
   • The Frog-King or Iron Henry
   • The Frog Princess


2. Theories. This week we navigate a number theoretical approaches used to analyze tales. These include, socio—historical, structuralist, psychoanalytical, anthropological and morphological approaches. Prior to this session, we would have read another series of tales. These will be made available to you prior to this meeting.


3. Closing. During this meeting we conclude the course. We will at least three different tales using the approaches covered during our last meeting. We will also observe the challenges folklorists face when determining the origins of fairy tales. To understand this emphasis will be given to three tales in particular with a focus on the modifications made as they were told orally in a different country.