ENG 111-2 - Topic: Fairy Tale Creative Process (W) (1)

Fairy tales have ignited the imagination of children and sophisticated salon readers, storytellers and political activists, creative writers and film-makers. Sometimes dismissed as trite little (girl) stories or escapist fantasies, they have been discussed, conversely, as illuminating powerful anxieties and desire, as windows into the history of childhood and the family, as emancipatory dreams. To the writerly imagination, they are a treasure trove. Case in point: their prominence in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the fulcrum of this First-Year Writing course, which reworks the familiar “Beauty and the Beast” tale, contains echoes from “Bluebeard,” and fragments from non-Western tales featuring slaves and cannibals, an Egyptian witch, a maid from Barbary, and a conniving devil. Othello itself has been re-worked in a variety of media and we will explore the fairy-tale qualities of some of these transformations by contemporary authors.Written assignments, including a paper involving library research, will challenge your creativity and hone your analytical and critical reading skills. Plan on daily writing, reflection on the writing process, and thoughtful, transformational revision. Not open to students who have previously completed a First-Year Writing Course.
(First Year Writing Seminar (FYW))