Formative influences: myths, legends and fairytales in modern children's fantasy
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
H Scutter
8 points * 2 hours per week * First semester * Clayton
A study of the oral tradition of myths, legends and fairy tales which underpins adult and children's literature. Students will explore the large and significant body of traditional material which is presented to children at formative stages of their development and so informs and shapes adult consciousness. Through a study of modern fantasy texts for children, students will be encouraged to trace archetypal figures and narrative patterns to their sources in other and earlier cultures, and to question the ideological assumptions implicit in cultural variants.
Assessment
Seminar paper (2000 words): 30% * Essay (2000 words): 30% * Test (2 hours): 40%
Prescribed texts
Cooper S The dark is rising Puffin
Garner A The owl service Collins
Hoban R The mouse and his child Puffin
Le Guin U A wizard of Earthsea Puffin
L'Engle M A wrinkle in time Puffin
Mayne W Earthfasts Red Fox
O'Brien R C Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH Puffin
Opie I and P The classic fairy tales OUP
Scholes K The blue chameleon Hill of Content
Tolkien J R R The hobbit Unwin
Recommended texts
Bettelheim B The uses of enchantment Thames and Hudson
Jung C Man and his symbols Doubleday
Rabkin E (ed.) Fantastic worlds OUP
Stephens J Language and ideology in children's fiction Longman
Zipes J Fairy tales and the art of subversion Routledge