ENGL 2810Y Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Alan Dundes, Red Riding, Puritans
17 Oct 2018
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Introduction
two short written analyses (worth a total of 20% of the grade, 10% each)
• close reading and careful writing
• 1. Analysis of ONE fairy tale assigned for the course
• 2. Analysis of ONE Picture Book.
• If exceed maximum word count, will lose marks according overage (1100 words for a
1000-word-limit academic essay = automatically lose 10% with no opportunity to
rewrite)
• Works Consulted page required
• BOTH fall assignments will offer a choice of creative or academic options; but, beware:
both options also require an in-depth analysis that fully considers and responds to an
assigned, critical question. If you write creatively, you’ll also be expected to analyse your
own work AND to engage a single text (tale/picture book) and specific, assigned
question.
• NOTE: In winter term: 1 long essay with 2 parts: proposal and final version.
• All writing assignments for this course must present and emphasize your OWN OPINION
about the assigned topic and selected texts, NOT SIMPLY SUMMARIZE the contents of
texts in terms of either plot or theme. Simply noting, for example, which bits of a text
refer to a theme of death is NOT an argument, but a summary of what a text contains.
Instead, you must stress WHAT YOU THINK about an idea, and then discuss why this
idea is worth talking about. If this type of writing is new for you, please check with me
well before the first paper is due to make sure you’re on the right track.
A good argument does two things:
1. move beyond textual or thematic summary to focus on WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT AN
IDEA
2. say WHY this view you have MATTERS, NOT in the book, but out there in the actual
society in which it’s created and received
• THUS: MUST WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING YOU CARE ABOUT & ALWAYS HAVE A CRITICAL,
CAREFUL argument
• Sept 6 (today!): Historical roots, development, and continuing motivations (no
readings)
• Sept 13: Fear, pleasure and moral instruction: Puritans and Beyond (readings posted or
links provided on Blackboard)
• Sept 20: International folk motifs & their influences
• All Readings from Folk and Fairy Tales (FFT): traditional versions of Red Riding Hood &
Cinderella tales, Hansel & Gretl, The Frog King, Puss in Boots [please see syllabus for
details]; essays by Dundes & Hearne
•
• Sept 27: Voice, action, gender: socio-historical & psychoanalytic approaches
• Readings from FFT and Online: “newer” tales including Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling”
“The Little Mermaid” & “The Tinder-box” and Wilde’s “The Nightingale and the Rose”;
short essay by Seibles; CRUCIAL essay by Bettelheim
Oct 4: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the birth of fantasy
Oct 11: Words and pictures together: the contemporary “picture book”
Document Summary
Introduction two short written analyses (worth a total of 20% of the grade, 10% each) close reading and careful writing: 1. Analysis of one fairy tale assigned for the course: 2. If exceed maximum word count, will lose marks according overage (1100 words for a. Simply noting, for example, which bits of a text refer to a theme of death is not an argument, but a summary of what a text contains. Instead, you must stress what you think about an idea, and then discuss why this idea is worth talking about. If this type of writing is new for you, please check with me (cid:449)ell (cid:271)efo(cid:396)e the fi(cid:396)st pape(cid:396) is due to (cid:373)ake su(cid:396)e (cid:455)ou"(cid:396)e o(cid:374) the (cid:396)ight t(cid:396)a(cid:272)k. A good argument does two things: move beyond textual or thematic summary to focus on what you think about an.
