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                    Fairy Tales: Reflections Of Society 

Seminar Leader: Susanne Baackmann,
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature 

Seminar Description:
This seminar will explore the genre and development of the fairy tale. These cultural documents are both general in their appeal and specific in their formulation of social values and morals. More specifically, fairy tales reveal a great deal about the fabric of our communities: they offer insights into the changing nature of family relationships and charts how, why and when the family evolved as the nucleus of Western societies. They describe differences in male and female socialization, and they document the development of mass pedagogy. The seminar will provide a historical overview of the European fairy tale tradition and current local and ethnic adaptations.  

Questions explored included: What shaped the form and content of these tales? How are historical and social circumstances inscribed into the narrative? What is the difference between the oral and the literary tradition? In what way do fairy tales address mayor social and sexual patterns? Were they intended for children? What is a child, then and now? Why were and are they so popular? How did the brothers Grimm go about to collect and edit the tales? How are gender roles portrayed? What happened to this genre in the last two centuries? How have Walt Disney and the American film industry adapted fairy tales? 

We examined a wide variety of texts and films, such as early tales from Italy (Basile) and France (Perrault), the collection of tales compiled by the brothers Grimm, German Romantic fairy tales, tales by Andersen and Wilde, fairy tales from the early 20th century, contemporary fairy tales, modern American (film) adaptations, and local ethnic adaptations of these stories. Films may include: Freeway, The Little Mermaid. 

Seminar Texts:

1. Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. NY: Norton. 1998.
2. The Armless Maiden. Ed. Terri Windling. NY: TOR Book. 1995.
3. Miscellaneous readings 

Recommended Additional Texts:
Hallet, Martin, Karasek, Barbara. Folk & Fairy Tales. Ontario: broadview press, 1996.
Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Princeton: UPrinceton Press, 1987.
Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. New York: Routledge. 1991.
Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tale as Myth. Myth as Fairy Tale. New York: Routledge, 1994.Zipes, Jack. When Dreams Came True. New York: Routledge, 1999

About the Seminar Leader:
Susanne Baackmann is an Associate Professor of German at UNM and teaches a variety of courses on German culture and literature. Dr. Baackmann is most interested in contemporary German women’s literature and has written a book on the contemporary love story as told by women authors. Currently, she is researching expressions of cultural and collective memory for her second book project Memories of War—Wars of Memories. Her interest in fairy tales stems from a deep fascination with the different ways cultures express individual and collective identity. Fairy tales are stories that, in most imaginative ways, keep telling us who we are, who we should marry, and what we need to remember. 

The following topics and questions were addressed:  

First Week
6/3             Historical Introduction to the history of the genre
6/4             Female Socialization: Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella Cycle
6/6             Warning Tales: Little Red Riding Hood cycle (Movie: Freeway)

Second Week
6/10     Male Socialization: The Brave Little Taylor, Hop o’my Thumb, Puss in Boots
6/11     Sibling/Gender Relations: Brother and Sister, In the Night Country, Hansel and Gretel
6/13     Animal Bridegrooms: Little Mermaid cycle (Movie: The Little Mermaid)  

Third Week
6/17             Monster Bridegrooms: Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard
6/18             Weimar Fairy Tales
6/20             Feminist Fairy Tales, Story Telling Traditions  

Fourth Week
6/24 Presentations
6/25 Presentations
6/27 Presentations
7/30 Curriculum Units Due in ATI office  

Required Texts:
1. Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. NY: Norton. 1998. Available at UNM Bookstore.
2. Folk and Fairy Tales. Eds. Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek. Orchard Park CA: Broadview Press. 2002.
3. Jack Zipes. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. New York: Routledge. 199 1.
4. Jack Zipes. Fairy tales as Myth. Myth as Fairy Tale. Lexington KY: University of Kentucky Press. 1994.
5. Jack Zipes. Don't Bet on the Prince, New York: Routledge. 1989. 6. Jack Zipes. Creative Storytelling. New York: Routledge. 1995. 7. Copypackage

Preliminary Reading Plan: (Bold Print indicates pieces I recommend to read in advance)

Week 1
Zipes. “The Origins of Fairy Tales.” Fairy Tales as Myth. 17-48
(Zipes. “Fairy Tale Discourse.” Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. 1- 12)
(Zipes. “Spells of Enchantment. Folk and Fairy Tales. 370-92)
Zipes. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. Setting Standards of Civilization through Fairy Tales. 13-44.
Zipes. --. Who's Afraid of the Brothers Grimm. 45-70. Folk and Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauties. 34-50.
The Classic Fairy Tales. Cinderella Cycle: Perrault, Grimm. 109-121.
(Gilbert and Gubar. “Snow White and her Wicked Stepmother.” The Classic Fairy Tales. 291-97.)
(Rowe. “To Spin a Yam. The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tale. 297-309.)
(Rowe. “Feminism and Fairy Tales.” Folk and Fairy Tales. 325-45.)
The Classic Fairy Tales. Little Red Riding Hood: Story of Grandmother, Perrault, Grimm. 3-16
(Shavit. “The Concept of Childhood...” The Classic Fairy Tales. 317-332.

Week 2
Folk and Fairy Tales. Brain over Brawn. 79-97.
Brother and Sister, “In the Night Country” (Copy Package)
Folk and Fairy Tales. Grimm: Hansel and Gretel. 179-183. (Bettelheim. “Hansel and Gretel.” Folk and Fairy Tales. 273-280)
Folk and Fairy Tales. Andersen: The Little Mermaid.
(Zipes. Hans Christian Andersen and the Discourse ... Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. 71-86.)
(Zipes. “Breaking the Disney Spell.” The Classic Fairy Tales. 332-52.)

Week 3
The Classic Fairy Tales. Beauty and the Beast. 25-41.
The Classic Fairy Tales. Bluebeard. 138-143.
(Tatar. “Sex an Violence...” The Classic Fairy Tales. 364-72
Weimar Fairy Tales. Copy package.
(Zipes. The Fight over Fairy Tale Discourse. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. 134- 170)

Creative Storytelling excerpts.
Feminist Fairy Tales: Examples Go to top of page.