Fairy Tales in the Real World

One thing that I have really learned from this class is how fairy tales are everywhere, even in the police reports of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. I never really thought of fairy tales having a place outside of children's literature when in reality, children's literature is everywhere. You can't miss it. You can find a fairy tale anywhere, and most of the time you don't have to look very hard, you simply just have to look. I think most of the time it seems that fairy tales remain simply that is because of the misplaced concreteness that lies in most stories (ex. could a man really climb up a woman's braided hair?). That is why I like fairy tales, because anything can happen, which is why it is so interesting to be able to adapt fairy tales to real life as easily as they can be. So many impossible things happen in fairy tales, how is it even possible to find them in real life? Children's literature has realy opened my eyes to taking a deeper look at literature (something as a history major, i get to look at a lot).

My Group Project - All About Oz

When working on our group project, it is amazing at how many things you find behind a story that somehow seem to connect. Part of what I looked to for example was Bryan Talbot's Alice In Sunderland. You don't realize how much research it takes to find all that information, not to mention trying to fact check all the information that you do find to make sure that everything you are presenting is correct. It is so interesting to look into Baum's life as Talbot has done with Lewis Carroll. There are so many what if's when trying to find the answers for why Baum did the things that he did and the coincidences that follow his story and the times surrounding it. I really enjoyed trying to researc Baum and his career. I loved Talbot's book because of all the history and coincidences that manage to connect everything and enjoyed doing the same with Baum and the Wizard of Oz. If only I could have done more...

8 December 2008 Class Notes

Today we had more group presentations and wow, they did not dissapoint. Group #3 presentation was absolutely hysterical. I loved their take on a "modern" Wizard of Oz. They did a great job. Group #4 made their own comic book with four stories that all connect at the end and entering into a portal. The comic book that they put together was pretty sweet. It looked like they put a lot of work into making it, whic as we have learned from other presentations, it takes a lot of work to make the littlest thing work or look right. I can't wait to see the last two groups presentations on Wednesday.

PS - Class on Friday is mandatory. If you don't show, you will be docked! Finishing up individual presentations, closing the class, & talking about the test!

Final Thoughts...

This class has been quite an interesting experience.  I didn't really know what to expect coming into it.  I hadn't taken an english class in quite sometime.  I was just simply finishing out my curriculum for my minor and thought this would be an interesting class.  Who knew there could be so much information to children's literature, so many undercurrents of all sorts of different things.  There are so many things going on in children's stories, things you would never think to look at otherwise.  One of my favorites was Bryan Talbott's Alice In Sunderland because of all the history and speculation that it brings to light about Lewis Carroll and his story of a little blonde girl, Alice Pleasance Liddell.  There are so many versions of the fairy tales that we have read, versions I never knew.  It's been interesting learning what we have so far about children's literature and I am sure there is so much more to know...

"Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child."   -Unknown

5 December 2008 Class Notes

Today we began group presentations!

Group #1 (John, Brett, Brittani, Emily, Kyle, Stephanie, & Montana) - Truths, Speculations, & History Behind The Wizard of Oz - Be sure to check out the website of the storybook that they put together and used for their presentation!

Group #2 (Cassi, Hannah, Danielle, Lisa, Ronnie, Jessi, & Rebecca) - A Modern Day Tale of the Wizard of Oz: Dorothy Does Vegas...And Toto, Too! - Very Interesting!

Polling on Favorite Fairytales

So, last night at work, I thought it would be fun to do an icebreaker on what everybody's favorite fairytale is and why. I had to have an icebreaker, I couldn't think of anything and I had just come from english and Dustin's paper topic about researching with what people said their favorites were. Not one of them could really cmoe up with anything. It was really dissapointing. I think the two answers I got were Cinderella and Peter Pan (out of 9 people mind you). So, I proceeded to tell them about the Grimm version of the Cinderella story and Anderson's Little Mermaid. I ruined both of those Disney epics for them. For shame!

Dreams...I just can't remember them!

So, for the past few weeks, our blog is suppose to show evidence of a dream we have had. So, I have been on a mission trying to remember my dreams. I just can't do it. It's not because I'm under pressure or anything. I can never remember my dreams. I can't remember the last dream that I had that I can remember. I wake up every morning racking my brain trying to remember because I know that I need to blog about it but just can't remember. I would say that I don't even dream but, that's not true. Everyone dreams, just not everyone can remember it, and right now I am one of those people...

All About Curiosity (My Term Paper)

Looking at my paper at a glance, it's all about the meaning of curiosity for Dorothy, Lyra, & Alice. Most fairytales all have characters that are curious, especially female characters. That's no different for these three stories surrounding Dorothy, Alice, & Lyra. On the very first page of Alice, she is "burning with curiosity" about the rabit with the waist-coat and pocket watch. Lyra wants to know what's in the retiring room. So, I wanted to look into the etymology of the word "curious". It's always seen as kind of a bad thing, female curiosity. By looking at the origins of the word curiosity, it leads its way down to the word care, which is concern or interest for objects/people. When looking at curiosity in that light, what story, especially these three, doesn't have some form of curiosity? It is always going to be present. These three leading ladies are all about looking after either themselves or others while following their curiosity. It's impossible not to. Below is my paper...

Curious Or Caring With Alice, Dorothy, & Lyra?

When looking at three different stories in children’s literature, I can’t help but think what drives the story. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of curiosity is one that arouses interest especially for uncommon or exotic characteristics. Curiosity seems to play an important role, especially in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, and The Golden Compass from His Dark Materials Trilogy. For Dorothy, Alice, and Lyra, the three females that these stories center around, their curiosity or lack there of, is what makes each story exactly that, an interesting story.
Alice’s curiosity begins on the very first page.

“…Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that
she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it…”

Down the rabbit hole Alice goes and into a world full of curiosity. Every time Alice turns around there is something new and fascinating for her. If Alice had not been curious, her story would never have begun.
Lyra’s curiosity also gets the better of her. Her imagination starts to run with the knowledge of dust and the north and Lord Asriel trying to be poisoned. So many things happen within the first few pages of the story. Curiosity is the only option she has left! What are these things and where do they lead? Her curiosity in The Golden Compass tends to get her into more trouble than anything else though. Yet, just like Alice in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, where would the story go if she did not show any curiosity? Lyra would never have gone into the retiring room and the story would have never even begun.
Dorothy’s story on the other hand is a bit more intriguing. Dorothy does not really go looking for her story. She manages to get mysteriously thrown into this other world where for maybe just a moment she remains curious, but then she just wants to go home. For Dorothy, her curiosity may have gotten her into the Land of Oz but it is her lack there of that creates her story. She wants to go home and is just trying to find out how she needs to go about doing that. For her, the curiosity is somewhat backwards. Her curiosity lies more with her traveling companions than in the other things or objects around her.
What is it that drives these characters to be curious? Curiosity lies in the unknown. For these three, it is the objects or knowledge unknown to them that causes them to want more. This should not be a bad thing but it does occasionally get them into trouble. Alice either grows or shrinks, Lyra enters rooms where she has no business being that lead to all sorts of other troubles, and Dorothy is just trying to follow the yellow brick road. Being curious always starts out with good intentions. In children’s literature, however, it just always happens to be those curious females that cause trouble.
So what is it with curiosity? Why curiosity? It plays this huge role in some of children’s literature’s most well known stories. Interestingly enough, when looking at the etymology of the word, it really makes you wonder if curiosity is just happenstance or an act of deliberate planning. When taking a closer look at the meaning of the word, coincidence just doesn’t seem like a possibility.
The word curiosity originated around 1378. One of its meanings is “object of interest.” So, an interest in objects leads to the word curator, which is someone who is an overseer or guardian, someone who curates. Somebody who curates is “one responsible for the care (of souls)” or “to take care of” which leads to the word cure. Cure is “care, concern, trouble” or “to be concerned”. So, to care means, “to feel concern or interest”. All these words connect to each other. All stem from this single word, curious.
To be curious is simply to care or learn. By looking at the etymology of all these words, it is intriguing at how all these words do seem to connect. For someone to be curious, possibly meaning that they might also care, is not really something that commonly found as often. Today, most people that are curious are only trying to get the latest gossip on a situation. It is not always to better a situation. For these three characters, to be curious is to learn more about something. “Curiouser and curiouser” is a phrase first heard in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Even the first meanings of the word curiosity come from these children’s stories.
To be curious is a natural instinct, especially after taking a deeper look at the meaning curious and its linkage to the word care. Both Lyra and Dorothy are involved with trying to care for others in their stories. For Lyra, it is her concern for Roger and Billy that she begins her trip to the North. For Dorothy, she is just trying to look after her friends the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion. Alice’s concern is more for herself, but still, it is concern nonetheless. With characters like the Duchess and the Queen floating around, I would want to look after myself as well.
Curious is also related to learning. We always want to learn more, no matter whether it is good or bad. Knowledge is power. Learning is something people never stop doing, so how can there not be any curiosity. Every story is about learning something, so every story is going to have some sense of curiosity in it. It would not be a good story without curiosity. People aren’t satisfied with just a few basic facts. They have to know everything.
Curiosity is not a bad thing, as some fairy tales make it out to be. All stories are going to have curiosity because every character cares about something or someone, whether it is themselves or not. Curiosity is what makes the story begin and to keep the reader absorbed. Dorothy, Alice, and Lyra would not have a story or be as interesting as they are without curiosity. Their concern and curiosity is what drives each story, making each its own.
Is curiosity what makes the world of children’s literature go round? It may not be the sole factor but it plays a huge role. How many stories would not even exist if their characters were not curious? Dorothy, Alice, and Lyra would not exist if it weren’t for their curiosity. Alice would not have gone down the rabbit hole, Lyra would never have gone into the retiring room, and Dorothy would never have made friends in the Land of Oz. Curiosity and the sense for something more is what drive these three girls and their stories.

3 December 2008 Class Notes

Individual Presentations

Aaron D: Deconstructionalism in Alice In Wonderland

Erin D: Children's Literature in Different Mediums *90's Nickelodean!

Aaron H: Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

Katey: Growing Up In An Extraordinary World

Rebecca: Adults Opressing Innocent Children

Sam: Storytelling *Epic Movie Australia!

Cassi: Inspiration from Sara Bareilles song "Fairytale"

Dustin: Research Paper on Other's Thoughts toward Fairytales

Adam: Dream, Recollection and Current

Brittani: Dreams

Ryan: Man vs Nature in Pullman's His Dark Materials

Jessie: Alice In Wonderland in Relation to Time

Lisa: Six Degrees of Separtion with Obama

Danielle: Child vs. Adolescent vs. Adult

Cheryl: Reversals on Alice In Wonderland

1 December 2008 Class Notes

Individual Presentations

Brandon: How Do We Define Children's Literature

Sutter: Simpsons, Mac's, Escaping, Images Being Real/Fake

Emily: Comparing the Art of Seduction/Love

Raquel: Nonsensical Literature, Music

Kayla: Lewis Carroll, Examing History & Literature

Brett: Union Archetypes creating cultural characters through didacticism

Calie: Comparing three female characters' adolescents

Stephanie: Gateways and Portals in Children's Literature vs. realist portals, what is a portal

Julie: Presumption & Portrayal of beauty in fairytales

Ashley: The male side of fairytales

Kyle: Dream Logic/State, Lucid Dreaming

26 November 2008 Class Notes

Individial Presentations

Taylor: Skins of Literature, Erotic Connections *Brought in her pet snake Molly*

Hannah: Adults Writing Children's Literature, Peter Pan Complex

Sadie: Curiosity With Characters in Children's Literature

Jesse: Images in Children's Literature

Ronnie: Power of Literacy & What Gives It Power

John: Perishing Without Art

Ben: Cannibalism in Children's Literature

Kathleen: The Slanted Truth in Children's Literature

Jill: John Lennon & Alice, Music & Lyrics

24 November 2008 Class Notes

• Can 12-year olds feel the same way about love as adults? Is it a true love story?
• Thought: The god that is killed off in this book is an imposter god, its all the negative religious connotations that are killed off...
• Agnostic marginalized
• Genisis 3, fall into original sin, or was it needed to move on with life, was it important so that people could be smart?
• scholarship, learning
• "Maps & Legends: Reading on the Borderlands" --> check out this book
• Talked about Sutter's blog
• Experience, knowledge, remembrance, Dust - is it inert or was it active with power
• "How can you know anything, to know something, you must know what your looking for and who knows what we are looking for...therefore...you don't know what your looking for until you find it..."
• It's true because its more interesting, truth is beauty and its beautiful because its true
• Joseph Campbell
• Children's literature is where the good stuff is at?
• Where are the men? Most of the fairytales we have read are all about the women...
• Quote from Subtle Knife "those who want us to know more and those who want us to submit"
• Grand Inquisitor, atheist brother, how people are kept submissive
• The rhythm/music of line
• MS doesn't believe in giving children only age appropriate material...give them Alice and Shakespeare when they are young!
• pg 864, harpies feeding on the stories of people, the dead coming out, the truth can only come to us through stories
• "everything that rise must converge"
• Dame Hannah, one of the great English scholars
• Intuition, intuitive, reading the althiometer
• pg 911, you have to put away all your magic instruments and look at the world where you are now
• Dumbo learing to fly without the feather
• Do it without the magic, "Four Quartets" TS Elliott
• Blake, eternity is in love with the productions of time
• The only paradise you'll ever know is what's going on now and here...

Pullman & His Dark Materials

I had many previous assumptions before reading Pullman's His Dark Materials. I remember that when the movie was getting ready to come out there was so much controversy over it. "The kids kill god" is all I ever heard about it. I grew up in a christian home and so at first I was not at all interested in the movie or the book for that matter. I never much thought any more about it. Then I came to buy the books for this class and I see Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials is on the reading list. At first I wasn't thrilled. I had no desire to read it at all. After I began reading it though, I really like it. It had so much detail and was very interesting to read. I really wish that I wouldn't have let all the bad talk about it keep me from reading it. After we had one of the discussions in class about possible religious meanings for it, I realized there were so many different ways to interpret it. I have even recommended the book to others because it really was a great series to read.

Other folks daemons...

After having a very interesting chat about people and their daemons in class on Wednesday (11/19), we had mentioned about whether people today have some sort of daemon. My first thoughts were pretty much no, and then it hit me. My friends and I were on a trip up to a cabin in Deer Lodge for the weekend and we decided to make a little pit stop in Butte at the local Wal-Mart Store. This was a first for me. I had never been into Butte, only passed through on I-90 on my way to Missoula. I was a little leery at first. I have never really heard anything good about Butte (I'm not from Montana fyi) but I was up for our little detour. As we were wondering through the game section around the corner came a man with a parrot on his shoulder! I was trying not to stare but it was difficult. It's not everyday that you see somebody walking around in Wal-Mart with an animal on there shoulder. Talk about having a daemon on your shoulder!

What's My Daemon?

This whole concept of having a daemon is quite fascinating. I had a really hard time trying to figure out that if I had a daemon what might he or she be? So I went online and searched for something that might help me decide. Lo and behold, I found a site where all I had to do was take a quiz and "voilah" it would tell me what my daemon would be. After taking the quiz, it told me that my daemon would be an eagle or a hawk. I liked the idea of having an eagle for my daemon. They are graceful and cunning and strong. What I wonder is where did Pullman come up with this idea of a daemon? It is a very interesting concept and I just wonder how one might come up with that. (Photo by Roger M. Clark)

19 November 2008 Class Notes

• Pullman --> Stark realist?
• Things in His Dark Materials being real?
• pg 281, end of golden compass, idea of "the north"
• daemons, didacticism, dust, storytelling, alethiometer
• reality-> what is the north, where (geographically) or what does it suggest?
• idea of north has to deal with imagining the north, the frontier, something old becoming something new...
• where do you go when you reach the north?
• Poems -- Snowman, The Ode & the Grecian Urn
• Music of the spheres, caused by the movement of planets & celestial bodies..."it can be heard but not by your ear, unless you trained to hear..."
• pg 364, talking about dust knowing
• animals -> interchanging, inseperable, seperating yourself form your anima=soul
• Notion of the daemon- child daemons change, adult daemons don't
• What is it that cause the daemon to change/not change anymore?
• Sacrifice, selfless sacrifice
• Is he a realist because he doesn't give a happy ending?
• Go look at Ryan's blog
• My Dinner With Andre, the idealist and the realist
• Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass --> metaphors
• Why go to literature for realism? The imagination wants you to see symbols/symbolic
• Ability to deal with the hypothetical
• What differentiates us from the animals?
• Friday...what is your daemon?

10 November 2008 Class Notes

TEST REVIEW QUESTIONS!


Subject Matter:
Tatar endings
Talbot pages
Humpty Dumpty
Question of Morals
Linda's Lecture
Wool & Water
Tweedledee & Tweedledum
Caterpillar
My Book & Heart...


Q: Who was the illustrator of Alice?
A: Tenniel


Q:Last word in Beauty & the Beast?
A: Virtue


Q: Who wins after death?
A: Worms


Q: Just because the worms win, how do we triumph over them with agency?
A: Groucho Marks, ART wins


Q: According to Oscar Wilde, life imitates?
A: Art


Q:Five themes of class?
A: Myth, History, Art, Dream, & Coincidence


Q: Who does the white knight represent?
A: Lewis Carroll


Q: Examples of moral and parody?
A: Moral -> How doth the little busy bee Parody -> How doth the little crocodile


Q: What food does the mock turtle sing to Alice about?
A: Soup


Q: In Alice, what is the hatter's answer to the riddle?
A: I haven't the slightest idea.

Q: Besides Shakespeard, who is the most quoted author?
A: Lewis Carroll

Q: _____ is a depersonalized ______ and _______ is a personalized _______.
A: Myth, Dream, Dream, Myth

Q: Stephanie thinks who is the rudest flower?
A: The Violet

Q: According to Shakespeare, how many stages of man are there?
A: Seven

Q: Word animated contains which word that means soul?
A: Anime

Q: Who is the volcano?
A: Alice

Q: Where does Alice live in all of us?
A: Collective Unconscious

Q: The first time Alice shrinks, how tall is she>
A: 10 Inches

Q: What is the title of the deleted chapter in Alice/Looking Glass?
A: Wasp & the Wig

Q: How does Alice offend the mouse?
A: Talks about her cat

Q: During the Protestant Reformation, what was a goal?
A: Teach moral values

Q: First Bible in America was published in what language?
A: Algonquin

Q: What two animals spark curiosity about evolution?
A: Mammoth & the Monkey

Q: What invention had enormous influence on Protestant Reformation?
A: Guttenberg press/printing press

Q: Why is the mad hatter mad?
A: Had mercury in their had bands, misplaced concreteness

Q: What does the white rabbit drop when he scares Alice?
A: White gloves & Fan

Q: What do Beauty's tears turn into in Jean Cocteau's verson?
A: Diamonds

Q: When reading a story, trust the _____ and not the ______?
A: tale, teller

Q: Lewis Carroll's nickname inspired character?
A: DoDo

Q: What is interesting because it's interesting?
A: Tatology

Q: Goody Two Shoes is an emblem of ______ which most adults lack?
A: Perfection

Q: According to Tweedles, if I am part of a dream then what are you?
A: Dido Dido Dido

Q: What image in Alice & Wonderland appears in Rebecca's dream?
A: Flying pigs

Q: A big theme of this class is to look into the _____ side of things.
A: Dark

Q: Who was the most prolific serial killer in 19th Century England?
A: Mary Ann Cotton

Q: Who were the primary ghosts in Talbots book?
A: Sid James & the White Lady?

Q: Jaborwocky originates from this Sunderland myth.
A: Lamton Worm


Q: What is the last line of Alice?
A: Life, what is it but a dream


Q: first letter of each line of the poem at the end of Alice creates a?
A: Acrostic

Q: Walter Pater said that all art aspires to the condition of _____?
A: Music

Q: According to the script of My Book & Heart, the text informs?
A: Reality

Q: What is Tweedledee fond of saying?
A: Contrariwise

7 November 2008 Class Notes

• One of the best film versions of Alice In Wonderland is "Alice Through The Looking Glass" starring Kate Beckingsale.
• On Monday - - Bring in question for the test on Wednesday!
• Possible themes to write about --> history, myth, dreams, art, coincidence, three goddesses...
• Tweedledee & Tweedledum were telling Alice that she isn't real, her tears aren't even real. If the Red King were to wake, then she would dissapear!
• Last play that Shakespeare wrote was The Tempest.
• Breaking the spell...
• Talked about insights of Alice, which is your favorite chapter...
• Alice --> everything is so CURIOUS
• The white knight --> Carrol himself?
• Trust the tale and not the teller.
• Talked about the seven stages of man...infant, boy going to school, grows up, mechant, soldier, old man, losing everything...
• When a child sees a tree, he sees a tree. When an adult see a tree, he sees everything but the tree. When a wiseman sees a tree, he sees a tree.

6 Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

This is a bit late but they are the six impossible things I thought of the other day. I am just now getting the chance to blog about them. And they are:

1. All the labels for my (and a couple other girls) upcoming exhibit will be done by Saturday!

2. I could simply touch the cover of His Dark Materials and after a few moments know what all

three books are about...I really, really wish!

3. That I could think about someplace I really want to go and with a snap of my fingers be there

instantly.

4. Buy/Afford the brand new Chevy Camaro on the day that it comes out next year (it's my

dream car)!

5. Not have surgery on my wrist when I go home at Christmas.

6. To not lose anyone else important to me before their time...

Six Degrees Of Separation...Huh?

So, I am not sure I understand this whole concept of six degrees of separation. But here is my stab at it - that is connecting Alice In Wonderland to The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

Alice In Wonderland is a book based on a little girl named Alice, who indeed, is actually based on a real little girl named Alice Liddell.

Alice Liddell traveled to New York in her later years for a celebration of that book.

New York is where Frank Baum was born and raised.

Frank Baum just happens to be the author of...The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

And there you have it. Hopefully it is correct. Personally this whole "six degrees of separation" concept seems kind of like a bunch of hooey. You can somehow be related to something with no more than because you went somewhere someone else did. It seems like a very far fetched concept...but maybe that's how it is suppose to be.

My Favorite Alice Chapter!

My favorite chapter of Alice would have to be Chapter VIII, The Queen's Croquet Ground.  I think it is one of the most vibrant or colorful chapters, that or I just seem to follow it better than other chapters in Alice.  The chapter opens up with the three gardeners (individual cards from a deck of cards mind you) arguing while painting a white roses on a bush red.  Then the croquet game starts.  I love the imagery.  And of course, you have the queen running around the whole time shouting "Off with his/her head!"  I think the croquet scene is why I like it so much because I actually consider/think what it might be like to play with the same things they do.  I wonder what it would be like to play with a flamingo for a croquet mallet, a live hedgehog for the ball, and soldiers (who are cards from a deck) as the arches that are constantly moving around.  Would it be really entertaining to try to play under those circumstances or would it be really frustrating?

Dreamchild (1985)

So, being the huge movie fan that I am, when Michael said that "Dreamchild" was one of his favorite movies of all time, I was curious to see what the movie was all about. After finding out what I could I must say it does sound rather interesting. It seems like it is a look at the dark side of Alice In Wonderland by none other that Alice herself, as a much older lady. If anybody else is intrigued, here are a few film clips I found from YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8JvMdfNOrg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WBPBM9PxCU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff8_Sir_iUs

They aren't the best quality but you get the idea...

5 November 2008 Class Notes

• Discussed the last few pages of Alice In Sunderland in regards to the election.
• "It is a tale, told by an idiot..." Shakespeare's "MacBeth"
• Select favorite chapter from Alice books and blog about it...
• Read Ronnie's dream
• Myth is a depersonalized dream
• Rebecca read about her dream
• pg 290 --> A-B-C-D...E-A-T-H...it all ends in death
• "We are such stuff as dreams are made on..." Shakespeare's "The Tempest"
• "The Big Sleep" is death.
• The worms win in the end...
• "The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out, the worms play peanuckle on my snout."
• Read from Through The Looking Glass, "Wool & Water"
• Mayflies...here, do it, die
• Rent a movie called "Duck Soup"
• Marx brothers, anarchist comedians where nothing is sacred to them
• Friday --> What is your favorite Alice chapter
• Monday --> Have questions for test

3 November 2008 Class Notes

• Took the first 5-10 minutes of class to talk about the election
• Access Chris Clark's blog --> Percy Shelley
• Blog about page 206 in Alice & Sunderland
• Lolita as a chess game...
• Alice in the music industry --> Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd
• What is the obsession with Alice?
• Well trained imagination or a badly trained imagination
• Epileptic seizures -->some authors would have these and then claim to be entering a portal and being able to see things clearly for the first time
• Read and talked about people's dreams...

31 October 2008 Class Notes

• "Dreamchild" - one of Michael's favorite movies
• Parodies
• School Room Poetry
• There's no such thing as boring history/literature, just boring people.
• anagogy -- everything is related
• Six degrees of seperation between everything. Google/blog about six degrees of seperation --> especially between Bozeman and the Wizard of Oz
• Fun fact: Michael used to preach in Central Square, New York
• The more interesting we become, the more interesting literature becomes.
• Serendipity
• Provide a first draft of final paper on your blogs
• Blog about your dreams
• Joseph Campbell --> myth & dreams
• Lewis Carrol knew a lot about dream literature --> language of Alice is dream like
• Isn't the unexpected more interesting?
• Blog on Alice In Wonderland & Alice In Sunderland
• Think of Six Impossible things before Breakfast...
• Questions of identity and metamorphosis in Alice
• Check out the exhibit "Stories" at the Emerson Cultural Center
• Got together with groups the last ten minutes to discuss projects

27 October 2008 Class Notes

• Raquel played Bach's Cello Suite #1 at the beginning of class, or I should say Michael made her play and that is what she chose. It was absolutely beautiful. She did a wonderful job. What a way to start the class.
• Sublime - literary critic term
• "all the arts aspire to the condition of music"
• Two different poems that begin Alice (one of those was didactic)
• Alice was a real little girl, according to Alice In Sunderland
• The Matrix is based on Alice In Wonderland.
• Alice is one fo the most looked at books, 2nd most quoted coming in behind Shakespeare
• Go look at Kayla's blog for info on Alice
• The film (My Book & Heart)...the little books have good intentions. "None of it is real" --> grandmother's house of books
• Art is deceiving
• Human nature is misplaced concreteness. What is a child, book, nature? There is no answer, you can't define these things.
• Literature liberates us into play
• Aesop's Fables --> Allegorical
• William Bennet wrote a book on morals, judgemental on people who don't spend time wisely --> Tatar criticizes him for this
• Mary & Martha from the bible ---> like the ant & the grasshopper from Aesop's fables
• What is needful?
• Reading things that people have been reading for centuries and still enjoying them today.
• Being literate allows you to go into the story, the portal into the other world
• Discussed differences between metaphors and similes
• Symbols --> communion, cannibalism, like the story of the Juniper Tree
• Children's Literature still being didactic today
• Subversity
• Don't trust anybody to tell you what something means...
• The film (My Book & Heart) wasn't exactly meant to be teached or didactic.
• Read Sutter's response to My Book & Heart...
• Oscar Wilde --> great children's literature art, life is an imitation of art, the thought of "you wouldn't be sad if Shakespeare hadn't wrote it"
• "Only the educated are free..."

Thoughts on "My Book & Heart"...

One thing that stuck out in my mind was the story of Little Goody Two Shoes. How the story got from where it started to what it means now in today's society. I have never read the story of Little Goody Two Shoes and I knew nothing about it. The one thing that I associated with the term "Little Goody Two Shoes" is someone who is a know-it-all, or a suck up, or "that girl/guy" in class that seems like they know everything. After seeing the movie, that is not where that name originated at all! The name came from the little girl who finally got two good shoes! I find it so interesting that the story goes from that one extreme to the other. How on earth did if shift that much in its meaning.

I loved the part about "The House That Jack Built." Hearing Michael and Lynda read it back and forth to each other was fun.

Another part I liked were the pictures of wood carving and the text that was beneath them. A lot of them seemed to contradict each other which I found very interesting. I think it is weird on how things were interpreted back then to how they are now. It is amazing to see how far things have come since then. What is and isn't acceptable. Back then they showed how man and ape looked the same where now evolution is a huge debate. But, did the idea of not being allowed to question it slow down that debate?

One question I do have is where the title "My Book & Heart Shall Never Part" came from? Is it from one of the little books that Lynda had. Is there a specific reason for her naming the film this? I remember seeing the little girl read it from one of the books I think.

Is there such a thing as a child?

I like my response as to what I thought a child was. Then Lynda came and talked to us about her movie and it's concerns with children, books and nature. Then Sutter brought up a really interesting point in class the other day..."is there such a thing as a child." I almost want to say, "no there isn't." Children aren't really ever given the time to be children. From day one they are always learning something. They are constantly aquiring more and more knowledge on everything. So if this person is always learning something that is helping them mature, are they indeed, every considered a child? If they aren't, then what are they...young adults? Or if you indeed would call them children because they are constantly learning things, is there even such a thing as an adult. You don't ever stop learning. Everyone is constantly expanding there knowledge of something. Are we all children, since we are continuing to learn? Or does it only deal with literacy. So many questions roaming through my head and no definite answers...

Reminders!

• Thursday, October 23 at 7:00 is the world premiere of "My Book & Heart Shall Never Part" at the Emerson Cultural Center. Everyone is required to attend!
• There will be no class on Friday, October 25. Write a response on your blogs by Monday regarding the film.
• We will begin discussion on Alice on Wednesday, October 29.

20 October 2008 Class Notes

• Begin reading Alice In Wonderland/Alice In Sunderland ---> try reading them both at the same time...
• Have "His Dark Materials" done by November 14, it will make it easier to discuss.
• DIDACTIC
• Tatology: talking in circles, it is what it is, the poem is a poem...
• Learning something but not questioning it...
• Is a child ever really a child? People argued that childhood wasn't invented until the 19th Century, children didn't exist until the 19th Century?
• Rites of passage --> boys becomeing men in tribal areas
• Cynical, satirical, ironical ---> things used in comin up with your own version of the moral to Cinderella...
• Taylor, Ashly, Rebecca, Julie and Brett read their moral to the story of Cinderella...
• Sexson read from Beauty & the Beast ---> almost identical to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
• In "Jane Eyre" she was brought up in an orphanage and somewhat by aunt. Attitude at orphanage was very adultlike, there wasn't room for the kids to act like children.
• Parody makes fun of things while respecting what it is making fun of.
• Anglea Carter's "The Tiger's Pride" ---> read it
• Eastern version of the rose was a lotus.
• This idea of committing crimes that didn't seem serious ---> eating of the apple in Adam & Eve, picking a rose from a garden, eating rapunzel

17 October 2008 Class Notes

• Lynda Sexson was the guest lecturer for class today. She talked about her upcoming film and things that it addressed.
• Is there such a thing as children's literature?
• Didactic: God------>speculative---->children begin to ask questions, morals, etiquette, pragmatic (ex. don't drink from a hot tea kettle)----->humor, nature
• All of those things (morals, etiquette, etc.) leads to literacy
• By becoming literate a child stops being a child.
• Nostalgia - a reminder of home, the old ways
• Books of nature--->leading to thoughts of God
• Influence of the Protestant Reformation..."anyone can learn to read"
• 1650 - John Eliott came to teach the Native Americans of Massachusetts how to read
• First bible printed in America was in the Algonquin language...
• Reading became a diversion for land
• Two world views colliding..."why do englishmen hate snakes?"
• John Newbery - the way by which we read is the way by which we think...
• Influence from the Enlightenment (think Thomas Jefferson whose library became the basis of the Library Of Congress) ---> notion of deism rather than theism.
• The notion that people can be rationale
• In 1803 Charles Peale opened a museum where for 50 cents, people could come in and see the bones from a mastadon
• John Goode wrote several books on nature but he had cracks in his world view
• JG would ask children not to think of the origin, not to think about where something came from.
• Wanted children to learn and become literate but not question certain things, only wanted them to reach a certain level of literacy
• Books on nature ---> some of the images conflict with the text
• Books were distributed by the American Sunday School Union and Religious Tracts among others
• iconoclasm: shattering/smashing of the image
• facsimile: made to look like an original
• "pocket books" from applewood books, nationalist enterprise
• "the blueback speller" produced by noah webster...wanted to regularize language in an American way
• Bluebeard, it is safe and scary at the same time when you are reading it, making it more appealing
• The world of books helps us with the world of words.

15 October 2008 Class Notes

• Graded each others tests in class...thank goodness I did much better than I thought I would.
• Possible Future Test Question! What is the last word in de Beaumont's "Beauty & the Beast"? The answer is VIRTUE!
• Lynda Sexson is coming to class on Friday to lecture. Everybody needs to come to class that day!
• Below is a symbol for virue...

13 October 2008 Class Notes

Today was the big day...our first test. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. I think I got so wrapped up in trying to remember all the stories that I didn't focus as much on the notes and such from class. Next time I will know to do it differently.

10 October 2008 Class Notes

We discussed the upcoming test on Monday and came up with questions that will pertain to at least 50% of the test.  The stories we are responsible for being familiar with (including sidebar information) are:

-Little Mermaid

-Little Red Riding Hood

-Cinderella

-Hansel & Gretel

-Beauty & the Beast

-Sleeping Beauty

-Snow White

-Rapunzel

-East of the Sun, West of the Moon

-Bluebeard

-Juniper Tree

The questions that the class came up with were:

Q: What is the name of the archetypal lady in Finnegan's Wake?

A: Prank Queen

Portmanteau - multi level word, Joyce gets it from "Alice In Wonderland."  Combine two words into one.  Example is slithey, comes from the word slimy and slithery.

Q: What numbers are considered privileged numbers in fairy tales?

A: 3 & 7

Q: What is misplaced concreteness?

A: A question that you're not suppose to ask.  For example, the possibility of Rapunzel's hair being strong enough for a human to climb, it being possible for Hans to ride a rooster.

Q: Which story is classified as 333 from the Aarnie Thompson folk index?

A: Little Red Riding Hood

Q: How is the collective unconsciousness manifested through fairy tales?

A: Through archetypes

Q: "If your really crafty, you'll get them both," is a quote from which fairy tale?

A:  Little Red Riding Hood

Q: What are the three parts of the universal quest?

A: Separation, Initiation, and Return

Q: What are the three parts of the triple goddess?

A: Mother, Maiden, & Crone

Q: Why is there no original?

A: All is displaced myth, you can't trace oral tradition.

Q: What are you recognizing in someone when you bow to them?

A: Recognition of the divine

Q: In Disney's Aladdin, the genie says he is _______?

A: Mythology

Q: A difference between the Grimm version and the Perrault version of Cinderella is?

A: She is called Ash Girl in the Grimm version

Q: In the Aarnie Thompson Folk Index, what classification does East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Hans My Hedgehog and Beauty & the Beast belong to?

A: Search For Missing Husband/Beast Groom

Q: Which of the following stories does not consist of parents struggling to concieve?

A: Bluebeard

Q: Name the mythological mother/daughter due we talk about in class all the time?

A: Demeter/Persephone

Q: Write a haiku of a fairy tale.  Consist of three lines.  First line has five syllables, second line has seven syllables, third line has five syllables.

Q: What is the significance of the blue in Bluebeard's beard?

A: All of the above

Q: What causes the transformation in Beauty & the Beast?

A: Love

Q: Who is one of our first archetypal talking animal/horse like Mr. Ed?

A: Golden Ass

Q: Why did Cupid wake up when Psyche was looking at him?

A: She spilt a drop of hot oil from the lamp on him

Q: What is sisty uglers?

A: Spoonerism

Q: Which romantic poet already knows everything there is to know?

A: Wadsworth

Q: What mythological story did Beauty & the Beast come from?

A: Cupid & Psyche

Q: What is the gender characteristic flaw in the story Bluebeard?

A: Female curiosity

Q: In which Grimm story is there a witch?

A: Hansel & Gretel

Q: Which author wanted to marry Little Red Riding Hood?

A: Charles Dickens

Q: What phrase begins most fairy tales?

A: "Once upon a time..."

In the celtic version of Cinderella, her mother is in the form of a female sheep, or a ewe.

 

  

8 October 2008 Class Notes

• Paul Newman's obituary mentions his likening to that of Little Red Riding Hood.
• Lynn Doyle read her response to what a child, boook, and nature were.
• Aaron read her rebuttle to the moral of Cinderella.
• Sexson read the ending of the Grimm version of Cinderella. Noticeable differences in the story: 1) the prince put pitch on the stairs to keep Cinderella from running off which is how she lost her slipper, it got stuck in the pitch, 2) the slipper was not glass it was, gasp!, gold, 3) no clock strikes twelve at midnight, no pumpkin, and 4) the step-sisters cut their heels and toes off, not to mention their eyes get picked out by birds.
• Magic number of a fairy tale is 3!
• Watch Jean Cocteau's "Beauty & the Beast."
• Beauty & the Beast is Type 425-C in Aarnie's motif classification (Beast Groom).
• A book and reading is about being on both sides of the pages.
• King Kong -- "original" version -- is a tale of Beauty & the Beast.
• Coming of Age Stories -- Pride & Prejudice, Bride & Prejudice
• Dark Themes in Fairy Tales
• Everything that is suppose to be realistic has roots that can be traced back to mythology or a fairy tale.
• Cybil had 20 personalites.
• Is marriage an institution of bondage? The yellow wallpaper.

Rebuttal to Cinderella's Moral of the Story

Grace is the gift that will win a man's heart,
That is the knowledge that this tale imparts.
No matter whether your dwarfish or ugly,
Any prince will fall for you surly.

Cinderella's beauty was just a luck of the draw.
For I'm sure if she had been a maiden that was ugly,
The prince still would have gotten cuddly.
For as was previously mentioned,
Grace was the true intention,
That would capture any man's attention.

6 October Class Notes

• Added new books to working bibliography. See my list for all the books we have so far.
• Reference to fairy tales: Mister Ed based on Frances the mule which leads back to Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
• The Storyteller. In Disney's Aladdin, the storyteller (Persian version) is the man at the beginning who is trying to sell us the lamp.
• Psyche's soul seems to be illustrated as a butterfly in some versions.
• Sexson read us a story from "Golden Ass."
• Google "Cupid and Psyche" to see what kind of imagery you find.
• Psyche...she fell in love with love. Discussion of Cupid and Psyche, Beauty & the Beast.
• The movie "Monster-In-Law" is a displaced fairy tale.
• Spoonerisms. Read Jack Ross's spoonerism of Cinderella in class.
• Write a rebuttle to Charles Perraults moral of the story of Cinderella.
• Cheryl read her response to "What is a child?"

The Polar Bear King

Out of all the fairy tales that we have read in class so far, my favorite is "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." Lately it seems, this fairy tale has been coming up a lot in the past few days. First with watching "Hans My Hedgehog." On Saturday night, a couple of my friends and I decided to rent a few movies and have a movie night. As we were wondering in and out of the aisles at the local Hastings store, we wander past the children's section. One of my friends finds a movie called "The Polar Bear King." She mentions that she used to watch it as a kid and how great of a movie it was. When I first saw the title, instantly my thoughts went to "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." So being the adventurous bunch that we were, we rented it. I'm pretty sure my reaction to the movie was lots of laughing, mainly because you can easily see how long ago that movie was made. And I'm not sure my friend thought it was as good as she remembers it being, grant it that was probably fifteen years ago. One of the things I remember best was at the very beginning before it started, across the bottom of the screen appeared the words "Based on a Norwegian folk tale..." Another thing that is funny, especially since it is a fairy tale no less, is that at this website http://www.moviemistakes.com/film3378, is a list of movie mistakes about the movie. That seems like a lot of trouble to go and pick out mistakes about a fairy tale, something that is not real in the first place. I believe one of the factual errors listed was "People can't outrun polar bears." People don't have magical scissors that can create clothes from non existence either. Duh, that is why it is a fairy tale. Anything is possible.

Children, Books, & Nature

So, I went to thefreedictionary.com to see what they considered to be the definitions of these terms. It is suppose to be "correct" and I just wanted to see how exactly they thought these things were. It is kind of interesting. For me to describe what I think a child is, or a book for that matter, I'm not sure how much of what I think would go along with the technical definition.

What is a child?
To me, a child is something that is a part of everyone. Deep down, I think everyone still has that small part of them that is a child. It is just a matter of whether or not someone ever lets that part of them out. Being a child is what allows you to believe without questioning if something is possible. It allows you to read fairy tales with an imagination or still believe in Santa Claus, even though he isn't real, or just to be able to open your mind, think outside the box. The critical or adult part of us wants to say that, "that's not real, it's impossible, that would never happen" while I think the child in us is saying, "wow, that guy is riding around on a rooster, wouldn't that be fun!"

What is a book?
Then, when you move on to a book, I do think it is a literary work or something to present and understand knowledge, but it's so much more than that. A book is what allows you to go places you never thought possible. A book opens your mind and allows you to travel to some far off place or go back time. A book is something that lets you imagine the impossible. It expands your knowledge, whether it be with facts or rubbish... As for nature, I'm not sure about what I think nature is. It can be the environment that we all live in or it can be people's characteristics.

What is nature?
Nature is such a hard word to describe as something. I think maybe it's the environment that surrounds each of us, possibly effecting the choices that we make, the choices that perhaps form our character. Is it possible for it to be both of those things. I just don't know about nature.

All About the Rooster...

So, the use of a rooster in "Hans My Hedgehog" has really got me wondering. Why, out of every animal that could possibly be used, would you choose a rooster? Maybe it has some special meaning or something like that... I did a little researching and here's what I found.

The rooster is actually a motif in Maltese idioms and the bird is described as prideful and arrogant. These are things that is represents when it is used in stories and such. Another thing it tends to represent is luck, or is a symbol of good luck in greek and medieval history. Generally the story with that goes, "someone is about to die, but if the dead rooster stands and crows, then the life will be spared. And of course, it does stand up and crow!"

Still not sure though on why it might have been used in the story. Maybe it was meant to bring luck to the ugly hedgehog...

1 October 2008 Class Notes

• We watched Jim Henson's "Hans My Hedgehog" from "The Storyteller." It was quite interesting. I really want to know if there was some point to the rooster as his mode of transportation?
• Discussed familiar motifs or references to other fairy tales:

- East of the Sun & West of the Moon

- Book of Judges, Jeptha's daughter

- Rash promises

- Beauty & the Beast

- the number 3, everything happening in three's

- sacrificial children

- passing off property from one male to another, marriage

- husband and wife not being able to have children

- monster baby, wanting a baby no matter what it is, how it turn out

"a face that only a mother can love..."

- the house being in the middle of a forest

- "a year and a day..."

- formula (language) - same thing said over and over again

- ugly duckling, black sheep

• Motif of beast/husband
• The bittersweet song that begins with hello and ends with goodbye...
• Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" being the opposite...ugly woman instead of ugly man.

29 September 2008 Class Notes

• Talked about archetypes in fairy tales, mythology, and also to trash novels (Harlequin Romance). About how it can be "ephemeral rubbish".
• Added a new book to the working bibliography list.
• Are kids "blank slates?" How are we born? Are we born as blank slates where education is used to fill that slate? Or, is it that you already know everything, it's just a matter of remebering it, so teaching is all about helping you remember what you already know?
• Michael finished reading his story "A Man Reading" from the Mississippi Review.
• If you have nothing else to say, say a cliche.
• REM - Rapid Eye Movement - Dreaming! Next time someone is sleeping with a newspaper over their heads, go up to them and open their eye lid...see if their eyes are moving...are they dreaming?
• "Groundhog Day" - the movie. You are going to do something over and over until you do it right.
• By this Friday, make a post on your blogs about these 3 things: what is a child, what is a book, what is nature?
• Bowing, in asian culture, a sign of respect, recognizing the divine in someone...

Modern Cinderella

There's Someone In My Bed?!

What are the chance of some stranger coming into your house and falling asleep in a bed. I know, I know, one in three. But still, I would have freaked. I never use to look for fairy tale characteristics in things until now, and now it seems they are everywhere you look. Especially in real life. What on earth will happen next?!

Class Notes From September 19 - 26

So for the last few days, everyone has been reading aloud their fairy tale displacements. There has been quite a variety of displacements from being humorous to serious. By doing this whole thing, I think it has presented us with the idea that fairy tales are everywhere. You just have to look for them.

Few Announcements Made Throughout the Days...

• Check out Taylor Moorman's blog. She posted an article from the Billings newspaper. Post your opinion to it on your blog.
• Also, take a look at Sutter's blog as well.
  

A Quick History of Annelies

A Quick History of Annelies

Annelies Marie Frank was born on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Unbeknownst to Anne, as she was called by her family and friends, she was about to become a very famous person in history where many articles would be written about her and her family.
Anne and her family were living in Germany when World War II began and moved to the Netherlands in order to get away from the fighting that was beginning. While living in the Netherlands, the Germany’s Nazi’s began their occupation of the country. With the Nazi’s in the Netherlands, Anne and her family began to worry about what might happen to them. They were Jewish, and the Nazi’s were beginning to round up all the Jews in order to send them away to the concentration camps. Anne’s father knew that if his family were to survive, they must go into hiding for they had no way to escape the country.
Anne’s father explained to his family that in order for them to go into hiding, they would have to leave behind many things, with hopes that they might be able to resume their lives after the war was over. The one thing Anne could not leave behind though was her red diary with its gold clasp that had been given to her for her 13th birthday. It would be this diary that made her and her story famous across the world. So, in July of 1942, the family went into hiding.
There was one major requirement that the family and the few others living with them would have to follow: remaining absolutely quiet for most hours of the day. Their hiding spot was on a hidden third floor of a business building that Anne’s father used to own, and if someone came in and heard them moving about, then their secret would be revealed and there arrest would soon follow.
Anne and her family managed to keep quiet without fail for nearly two years. However, it all came crashing down. One night a burglar came into the building. He had a key and was able to come in undetected. Anne and her family tried to remain as quiet as they possibly could, but at some point one of them made a noise of some sort. The burglar, thinking he was all alone, was frightened by the noise and ran out of the building. Anne and her family were frightened by this event. If the intruder reported what he had heard, then her family would more than likely be arrested by the Nazi’s.
Time passed and nothing happen. Anne and the others continued living in their small cramped spaces. The people on the outside that were helping them came less and less. Worry and anxiety started to build inside those cramped walls. However, on 6 June 1944, D-Day occurred. The Allies invasion was going well and this started to give Anne, her family, and their friends hope. Maybe they would reach the end of the path where their freedom was waiting.
In August of 1944, German police stormed the building, discovered Anne, her family, the Van Pelz and Fritz Pfeffer and immediately arrested them. They were held in a detention unit for a few days before being shipped off to Auschwitz. From there, they were all separated and all of them died, with the exception of Anne’s father. He was the only remaining survivor. Anne’s journal was given to him by a close friend who had been holding on to it with the hopes of returning it to Anne. Because of her diary, Anne’s story, as well as her families and friends became known throughout the world.

My displacement was of "Little Red Riding Hood."

17 September 2008 Class Notes

• Added a few more books to the working bibliography list.
• Talked a little bit about Jim Henson's "The Storyteller." I have never even heard of this movie so it will be interesting to see a part of it.

• Google Iron John (A Book) and the word hysterical.
• Rapunzel vs. Jane Eyre...how alike the two stories seem.
• Take a look at William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" - "To see a world in a grain of sand..." http://www.artofeurope.com/blake/bla3.htm Go to this website to see it if you want...
• Check out the Mississippi Review for and article written by Sexson entitled "Man Reading" http://www.mississippireview.com/1996/msexson.html Here's the website for it.
• Mentioning of Dante and the "Divine Comedy"
• Talked about Thompson and his four levels. The first being literal, the second structural, the third anthropological, and last is cosmological.
• In the end of Disney's Aladdin, when the genie is taking off, he say's that he is mythology...hmm. To see this (last 5 minutes of the film) go to this website at You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nISrLus-mA
• Craving for something that isn't in you realm/reach/society...
• White Goddess (google this) by Robert Graves. There are three parts to a goddess: maiden, mother, and crone/old lady.
• Asexual vs. Sexual...Something that has no need for men or introducing an element of uncertainty/ unstability...

15 September 2008 Class Notes

• Sadie did her fairytale displacement today. Talk about setting the bar high and making everyone else nervous. She chose to do a recipe for her displacement of Rapunzel. It was very creative.
• Talked about how fairy tales peek through everything such as: the story of Patty Hearst or the Greek goddess Persephone.
• Something important to remember - there is no original version. The stories started out as oral versions and then were written down so which one is the original? There isn't one. The Grimm Brothers' fairy tales are not the original version.
• Added a few books to our working bibliography list.

12 September 2008 Class Notes

• Group presentations will consist of your take on the book "Wizard of Oz." It can be a graphic novel, short film, whatever your group comes up with...but whatever you do, your group must keep it a secret! Sexson wants to be surprised!
• Talked about how children's skip/jump rope songs talk about fairy tales..."Cinderella dressed in yella, went downstairs to kiss her fella, made a mistake and kissed a snake, how many doctors did it take?"
• Poems, instead of asking what do they mean, ask HOW?
• Universal Quest - Separation, Initiation, Return. Deals with this idea of having to go somplace else to find the treasure, even if it's in your own backyard. You won't realize it's there unless you go somewhere else to look for it. (Like in the Wizard of Oz)
• Freud and fairy tales, physcoanalyzing fairy tales
• Aarne-Thompson Folktale Index

Fractured Fairytales

When we were talking in class about "fractured fairy tales," this was the first thing that popped into my mind, "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales." At first I couldn't quite remember it so I had to do some digging but when I found it I instantly remember it. Did anyone else ever have this read to them? I thought it was hilarious. One story that I really laughed at was "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs." This book is just a really interesting take on the whole idea of fractured of twisted fairy tales.

10 September 2008 Class Notes

• Important Dates to Remember: 1) October 13 - First Test 2) October 23 - World Premiere Film at Emerson Cultural Center 3) November 12 - Second Test 4) December 15 - Final at 8AM
• We will have both individual and group presentations coming up throughout the term.
• Read an excerpt from "Finnegan's Wake" by James Joyce. *It sound like a very complicated book to read! (Check out MSU Bookstore's Top 100) Also talked a bit about Joyce Carol Oates - "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
• Looked at children's rhymes..."Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such a sport and the dish ran away with the spoon." What's interesting is how many version there are of this rhyme AND what scandalous meaning it might have. When I looked it up to make sure I was typing all the right words, the questionable Wikipedia poped up. There are four different versions, one in the UK, another in Canada, one in Australia and then the US version. And, to top it off, the rhyme is supposedly about Queen Elizabeth I, Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester, and two servants who secretly eloped. Who knew?
• Didactic - designed or intended to teach, pedogogical teaching
• Sexson read some example of displaced fairytales, or were they fractured/twisted fairtales?
• Also, we numbered off and picked groups for our group presentations at the end of the semester.

8 September 2008 Class Notes

• Continued passing around books for the working bibliography out of the CSI CRIME SCENE bag!
• IMPORTANT DATE: On Thursday, October 23 at the Emerson Cultural Center, the world premiere showing of "My Book and Heart Shall Never Part." Tickets will be provided and the class is expected to attend.
• Discussed which fairy tales we will be reading from Maria Tatar's book. So far the list includes: The Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel, Beauty & the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel, Bluebeard, and East of the Sun & West of the Moon.
• Talked a little about the Norton's Anthology of English Literature.
• We ended class with the Anguish Languish. I have never even heard of this before but it was hysterical. We read "Ladle Rat Rotten Hut." Who knew people even came up with this kind of thing
• Also, we were assigned a 1 pg Fairy Tale displacement that is due on September 19.

Red Shoes?!

So who knew that two simple words, red shoes, could have so many meanings. The one things that jumped out the most was two different movies made that are both "loosely" based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Red Shoes. One movie, titled "The Red Shoes" is about ballet and a ballerina performing in a ballet entitled "Red Shoes". The film was made in 1948 and won 2 Oscars. The other film is a Korean horror flick called "Bunhongsin" or Red Shoes in english. It is about a coveted pair of red shoes that carry a curse along with them that end up causing whoever has them to more than likely loose their feet. Then if you go to read Hans Christian Anderson's tale, it's about a little girl and a pair of red dancing shoes. Hmm, very interesting indeed. Fairy tales can be found in the strangest places! Here is a hyperlink to a website where you can read "The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Anderson if you would like. http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html

5 September 2008 Class Notes

• "All literature is displaced myth." This one quote holds true to most literature. Somewhere there is always a fairytale lurking, even in your own life.


• Fairy Tales and Memory -- before fairy tales were written down, how were they remembered or passed down? It was all oral and memory. How does someone go about remembering so many things. *Snaps to Prof. Sexson for knowing every single person's name in class after only a day!*


• One thing easyily remembered...Dorothy's shoes. Try googling it and see what you get!


• Children love fairy tales and they love to hear them over and over again. As adults, we tend to get tired of doing that same thing over and over again but children are different. They love hearing that same story over and over again. You can't change anything either, because if you do, they notice and point it out to you.


• Don't question if things are possible in a fairy tale. It is a fairy tale, anything is possible!


• Began compiling a working bibliography of suggested books.

Never in my life have I heard of the fairy tale "The Juniper Tree." It was a very interesting tale. After hearing it in class, I had to go home and finish the story because I wanted to know what happened. It has been a pretty long time since I read a fairy tale. I think what surprises me the most is how dark they are. Growing up I always seemed to get the fairy tales with the happy endings. I never knew that Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the wolf or the Cinderella's step-sisters cut off part of their feet to fit there shoes in the glass slipper. I'm trying to figure out how I would have reacted to a fairy tale like that when I was young. Would I have thought it was cool or would it have grossed me out?