Do humans have an innate need for the magical? Why do fairy tales and myths compell us long past the days (and cultures) in which they origninated? What is the nature and function of myths and fairy tales?

In this class, we'll discuss some of the roles and functions of magic and myth in the orignal versions, in retold versions of these stories, and in contemporary works that draw on elements of myth and magic. We’ll examine a number of cultural and critical questions: Are we to read the “magical” elements as fantasy or as reality? How do readers from very different backgrounds approach what might be accepted as more literal truth in the cultures it originated in? What, in fact, is the nature of myth? How do mythic elements function in the works under discussion--or why did the writer choose them?

While we'll begin with myth and fairy tale--both in the original forms and in retold versions such as Angela Carter's adult fairy tales--and we'll also look at the work of scholars such as Bruno Bettelhiem and Joseph Campbell who write about the role of fairy tales. Then we'll move on to contemporary fiction, poetry and even a graphic novel that use elements of myth and magic in their work, focusing on writers such as John Edgar Wideman, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucile Clifton and Jeanette Winterson (among others). Students will be responsible for a presentation, a longer paper, and some shorter response papers.