Problems in Literary Study: Storytelling

What accounts for the power and pleasure of storytelling? This course examines both the story and the telling. Likely topics include oral and written, original and adaptation, telling and retelling, audience and address, enchantment and magic, fascination and fear, trust and trickery, and truth and fiction. Our test cases take us from classical storytelling in The Odyssey, through fairy tales, folk tales, and their contemporary afterlives. We also prioritize pedagogical practice: students team-teach some class sessions, as well as submit lesson plans and sample syllabi in lieu of traditional research papers.