Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Academic Catalogue 
    
2018-2019 Academic Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

ENG 111-4 - Topic: Be Transformed: Fairy Tale Transformations, Cultural Critique, and the Creative Process (W) (1)

Fairy tales have ignited the imagination of children and salon readers, storytellers and political activists, authors and film-makers. They have provoked vigorous critical arguments: they have been dismissed as trite little (girl) stories or escapist fantasies, viewed as illuminating the imperatives of desire, or as windows into the history of childhood and the family, or as emancipatory dreams, or as creative powerhouses. Typically ending with a happy resolution, they are nonetheless full of danger and violence. Case in point: their role in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the focal text of this First-Year Writing course, which reworks the familiar “Beauty and the Beast” tale, contains echoes from “Bluebeard,” and fragments from 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 narrative pleasures and cultural critique afforded by two of these transformations: Bulgarian film-maker Ivan Mladenov’s 2005 documentary Othello, shot in the prison of Varna, Bulgaria, with a cast of the inmates, and the award-winning 1997 play Harlem Duet, by African-Canadian feminist playwright Djanet Sears. 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. STAVREVA
(Writing Requirement)