ENG 4460/6460: Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women's Writing
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Myths and fairy tales often reproduce historical and socio-cultural norms concerning gender/sex roles, representations of the body, sexuality and desire, and familial or romantic relationships. In our readings of contemporary revisionist versions of classical fairy tales and myths, we will examine how these genres serve as vehicles for challenging patriarchal ideologies and reclaiming women’s voices and agency. Alongside selections by influential twentieth-century feminist writers, we will read recently published short stories, novels, and poetry as representative of a renewed interest in women’s rewriting of myth and fairy tale. We will question the extent to which these texts reimagine classical fairy tales and myths by challenging narrative conventions and encoding feminist themes. In other words, do they disrupt, subvert, and redefine gender stereotypes and roles, or simply enact role reversals and thus reproduce sex/gender binaries by failing to renegotiate patriarchal power dynamics? We will interrogate the ways in which feminist re-visions or “contaminations” of traditional tales might also lead to new narrative forms, particularly through the use of experimental strategies, and with greater emphases on race, ethnicity, religion, immigration, and queer/ed bodies and identities. We will also focus on key themes found within classical tales: girlhood, gender roles, marriage, motherhood, and familial relationships.
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Required Texts:
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Feminist Revisionary Myth & Fairy Tales
Stories by Students (with their permission)
Stories by Students (with their permission)