MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

ENH2990

Formative influences: children's fantasy narratives

H Scutter

Synopsis Through a study of modern fantasy narratives for children, we will explore the oral and literary traditions of myth, hero legend and fairy tale which underpin adult and children's literature. Using such theoretical approaches as structuralism, psychoanalytic criticism, feminism and cultural studies, we will consider the shaping influences of traditional material as it is represented to children, and as it informs adult consciousness. The ideological assumptions implicit in cultural variants will be questioned as we trace narrative patterns to their sources in other and earlier cultures.

Assessment Seminar paper (29000 words): 30% + Essay (2000 words): 30% + Two-hour test: 40%

Prescribed texts

• Boston L The children of Green Knowe Puffin
• Cooper S The dark is rising Puffin
• Garner A The owl service Collins Lions
• Hoban R The mouse and his child Penguin
• Le Guin U A wizard of Earthsea Puffin
• L'Engle M A wrinkle in time Puffin
• Lewis C S The lion, the witch and the wardrobe Puffin
• Mahy M The changeover Methuen/Puffin
• Mayne W Earthfasts Red Fox
• O'Brien R Mrs Frisby and the rate of NIMH Puffin
• Tolkein J R R The hobbit Puffin

Recommended texts

• Bettelheim B The uses of enchantment Thames and Hudson
• Inglis F The promise of happiness Cambridge
• Opie I The classic fairy tales Oxford
• Stephens J Language and ideology in children's fiction Longman
• Zipes J Fairy tales and the art of subversion Routledge