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Storytelling

English 1100C Global Lit Professor Lee Ann Brown

Fabulosity: The Importance of Stories

“A writer is always reading and a reader is always writing.”

—Robert Scholes

“In a newsletter as early as 1977, when asked in an interview why people should pay attention to storytelling when issues of social justice, housing, schools, and health care were the “real” issues of the day, Morrison was unapologetic in her reply, doubling down in her steadfast belief that it’s not an either/or proposition. She argued that supporting and protecting the art of storytelling is as crucial to human progress as any other issue:

"…that’s where truth lies—in our myths, in our songs, that’s where the seeds are. It’s not possible to constantly hone in on the crisis. You have to have the love, and you have to have the magic, that’s also life, and I regard it even though it may sound as though I’m dealing in fantasy. I don’t think so; I find it all terribly realistic because I regard my responsibilities as a black writer as someone who must bear witness. Someone who must record the way it used to be. The way it ought to be, I leave to the sociologists. But I want to make sure that a little piece of the world that I knew...doesn’t get forgotten."—Mary Gannon / Toni Morrison, CLMP newsletter, November 21, 2019.

This is an assignment designed to practice combining research with critical and creative writing skills. It is a two parts which should inform each other: One part Critical and one part Creative. In working incredibly rich and varied world of myth, fairytale and folktale you will encounter many issues and threads of traditional and innovative intertextuality. Both sections of the assignment should be informed by independent research: Use at least 2 primary sources, 2 critical sources and one reference source, and include a works cited page. Please use in text MLA-style citation.

Research: Read through and take notes on material from the world of global myth, fairy tale, and folktale. Gather further source material that adds to your stockpile of ideas, images, characters and motifs for your own story. Gather visual as well as intextual materials. Anything that can help you recombine materials until you spark some ideas for stories of your own. Work with your sources and notes to gather a kind of “look book,” or fantastic map, cut-up or collage of this material in your journal.

ESSAY:

Instructions: Choose one of the prompts below (or develop a topic of your own) and write a well-developed essay with an introduction and conclusion, answering the questions posed in the prompt. Use specific examples from your primary texts, including page numbers for reference. Each paragraph of your paper should cover a single main idea. 1000-2000 words, double-spaced and typed in 12 point New Roman type.

Choose a word, name of a character, or place name from a myth that is full of layered or hidden meanings. Explore etymological meanings, recurrences in other stories in other cultures, or in some way “unpack” the significance of that one term or name. Write an essay analyzing the significance of the word, phrase, name or saying to the work as a whole. Also add in commentary on how you are using these new insights in your own creative piece.

Focus on a single contemporary poem that uses elements from traditional fairytales, folklore or mythology and do a close reading of the work. Try searching keywords in websites such as the Academy of American Poets https://www.poets.org/ and The Poetry foundation https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

Add in commentary on how you are using these new insights in your own creative piece.

Select a fairytale, folktale or myth from any global culture that features a character whose origins are unusual, mysterious or intrigue you for some reason. Then write an essay in which you analyze how these origins shape the character and that character’s relationships, and how the origins contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole. Also add in commentary on how you are using these new insights in your own creative piece.

Many myths contain a character who intentionally deceives other. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feeling, or to carry out a crime. Choose a fairy, folktale, ballad or myth in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyse the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole and how you are using parallel practices in your own creative piece.

It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a fairytale, folktale or myth. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole. Also add in commentary on how you are using these new insights in your own creative piece.

In literary works, such as fairytales, folktales, ballads or myths, cruelty often functions as a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Select a fairytale, folktale, ballad or myth in which acts of cruelty are important to the theme. Then wel a well-developed essay analyzing how cruelty functions in the work as a whole and what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim. Also add in commentary on how you are using these new insights in your own creative piece.

CREATIVE WRITING:

Write a short narrative by transforming, borrowing or subverting elements of the fairytale, folktale, ballad or world myth you wrote about in your paper. Look to Angela Carter’s rewrites of classic fairy tales for clues on how to do it your own way. You may want to combine characters, plot, themes, talismanic objects etc from two or more sources, then let your imagination go from there. 1000-2000 words

EXTRA CREDIT:

Transform / Translate your narrative (or part of it) into another narrative genre, or art form such as Comic Strip, Graphic Novel (see MAUS, PERSEPOLIS), Ballad (see CHILD BALLADS or those collected by CECIL SHARP and MAUD KARPELES), Dialogue Poem (see Frank O’HARA’s True Account of Talking to the Sun in Fire Island), Video, Screenplay, Poets Play (see work by KEVIN KILLIAN and others), Song, Painting, Collage (see JOSEPH CORNELL), Map (see Bruce Chatwin’s SONGLINES) etc. . .

Include a Works Cited Page at the end of your Essay:

Use at least 2 primary literary sources

At least 2 secondary (critical articles or journalism)

And at least 1 reference source

Relevant Readings:

Carter, Angela. The Bloody Chamber. (On Reserve)

Introduction to Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber by Marina Warner.

The Bloody Chamber”

“The Company of Wolves”

“Wolf Alice” etc

Handout of and literary rewrites and analysis of Red Riding Hood, including

Bruno Bettleheim, works by Olga Broumas, Roald Dahl and others.

Anthology of World Myth edited by Angela Carter (Reserves)

Textbook hand-out on writing short stories

Phillip Pullman essays on Writing Fairytales

Philip Pullman: recent interview in the New York Times and the New Yorker

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (in Reference section of Library)

SCHEDULE

Friday, NOVEMBER 22, 2019: Bring in topic ideas (In class Writing)

Tuesday, NOVEMBER 26th, 2019 Independent work in Library writing and research

Friday, NOVEMBER 29th, 2019: Thanksgiving Break

Tuesday, DECEMBER 3rd, 2019: Bring in 1st Drafts of both pieces (In-class Workshop)

Friday, DECEMBER 6th, 2019: TBA - Please bring in 3 pages of best work from semester for class magazine with your name, email and class

Tuesday, DECEMBER 10th, 2019: TBA

Final Reading during Exam Period: TBA

First drafts due: December 3rd in class

Final Draft Due: In Final Portfolio

Final PORTFOLIO:

-Revised and expanded Letter to the Reader Please include a paragraph or two on how you worked together as a group, what your role was and what you observed about writing in collaboration

-Revision of first half of semester writing

-Collaborative“Poet’s” Tree Play

-Storytelling Project: Critical Essay and Creative Writing

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