Russian Fairy Tales (RUSS 0090): Syllabus

12

Russian Fairy Tales (RUSS 0090): Syllabus

University of Pittsburgh, College of General Studies: Class Number 12061, Spring Term, 2011 (2114)

Instructor: Robert C. Metil, Ph.D.

Prepared by: Robert C. Metil
Last modified: January 6, 2011 (subject to revision)
Location: http://courseweb.pitt.edu

Classroom and time: CL 242, Thursday 6:00-8:30
Instructor’s office: 1433 CL in Stairwell A, or Slavic Department, 1417 CL Telephone, email: x45906 or x49958, 412-719-6318 cell, ()
Office hours: by appointment, or Thursday 3:00-3:50, 5:15-5:45

Course Description

This course introduces students to Russian fairy tales, a fascinating and prolific genre of folklore that reveals a great deal about Russian traditions and modes of thought. Taking an analytical approach to the materials—informed by disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, and philology—the course examines not only the tales, but also the beliefs and world views informing the magical settings of these narratives and related myths and legends in both the ancient Slavic pagan and more recent Eastern Orthodox Christian religious traditions. The curriculum situates folk fairy tales, collected and transcribed in the 19th century from the narrations of informants who were the gatekeepers of an old oral tradition of living folklore, alongside literary explorations of magical, supernatural, and paranormal themes by such classic 19th century Russian and Ukrainian writers as Aleksandr Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol′ (a.k.a. Mykola Hohol′), Sergei Aksakov, and Aleksandr Ostrovskii, and the contemporary Russian writers Tatyana Tolstaya and Nina Sadur. The course includes cinematic, artistic, and musical representations of the supernatural figures and scenes from the tales, and some comparisons with the Western fairy tale traditions of the Brothers Grimm, Perrault, and Disney. It also presents a broad spectrum of provocative approaches to the study of fairy tales, including psychoanalysis, Marxism, sociology, structuralism, and feminism. This course counts towards the International/Foreign Culture Regional and Non-Western Culture General Education Requirements, and the REES and Children’s Literature Certificates. No prior knowledge of Russian culture or language is required.

Grading

Exams

There will be three exams, consisting of multiple choice and essay questions. Each exam will be worth 25%, and the combined total of the three will be worth 75% towards the final grade.

Quizzes

Be prepared for a weekly quiz on that class meeting’s reading assignments (although some quiz-free weeks are possible). The total of the student’s best ten quiz scores will be worth 10% of the final grade.

Classroom Work

Classroom work will be worth 10% towards the final grade, and will consist of two components: first, class participation stemming from knowledge of assigned readings (plus attendance and collegiality), and second, special in-class assignments and group work.

Attendance and Collegiality

Punctual attendance and collegiality towards one’s classmates, instructor, and guests are obligatory. Students will be granted one unexcused absence during the semester. Any subsequent absence must be approved by the instructor and accompanied by a written physician’s excuse or other appropriate documentation. While one unexcused absence is allowed, two unexcused absences will result in a lowering of the student’s final grade by an entire letter grade, and three unexcused absences may result in failure of the course. Please inform your instructor in advance if you must arrive late to class or leave the classroom early. Students who do not return to class after the mid-class break, or who leave the classroom without returning during film screenings will be considered absent for that entire class meeting, with the absence factored into their grades accordingly. Inappropriate, distracting, inattentive, rude, and disruptive classroom behaviors, e.g. talking out of order, surfing the internet, texting, sleeping, etc., are potentially serious infringements of the University’s Academic Integrity Code (see below) and will not be tolerated. Makeup exams and extensions for written assignments will only be granted under extraordinary documented circumstances. No makeup quizzes are allowed.

Readings Journal

Every student will keep a tales and stories readings journal in the form of a separate notebook and submit it to the instructor at the end of the semester for 5% of the final grade. The goal of this assignment is threefold: (1) to aid students in the diligently and timely completion of readings, (2) to help students perform well on quizzes, and (3) to facilitate a spontaneous and real learning experience in analysis of the tales and stories. The mechanics of keeping the journal will involve designating a separate page (sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the reading’s length) for each tale or story with a heading for the title, followed by a brief summary of the characters (including any transformations), plots, and any special features such as foreign-language terms, similarities to other tales, applicability to particular theory, etc. In the course of the semester, we will at times refer back to tales previously read, when you will have the opportunity add additional notes and cross-references to your journal entries. Therefore, students should bring their readings journals with them to every class, including on review, examination, and film days.

Extra Credit!

Students will have the opportunity to submit a five-page original fairy tale for 5% extra credit (your instructor will furnish additional details in due course).

Special Problems

Students experiencing problems in this course should discuss those problems with the instructor, who checks his email regularly and is available to discuss any aspect of the course or general study habits.

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, the instructor encourages you to contact him and Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 216 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890 or 412-383-7355 (TTY) as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course (see www.drs.pitt.edu). DRS can make no accommodations without verification.

Academic Integrity

The University’s Academic Integrity Code may be found at http://www.as.pitt.edu/faculty/policy/integrity.html. It is the students’ responsibility to familiarize themselves with these regulations and to observe them, and any infraction will be penalized according to these rules.

Students often commit academic integrity violations (such as plagiarism) through ignorance or inexperience. To prevent inadvertent plagiarism, your instructor has provided a guide to avoiding plagiarism, which is available at http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/plagiarism.html. Even if you would never knowingly commit plagiarism, you should read this document. If you are uncertain about any matter concerning academic integrity, please ask your instructor.

Note that with one exception (see immediately below), the minimum sanction for violating the University’s academic integrity guidelines is normally an F in the course. Not an F on the quiz or exam or paper, but an F for the course. The maximum sanction, as described in the documents mentioned above, is dismissal from the University without the possibility of readmission.

Exception: Students sometimes cheat impulsively on examinations or quizzes and then regret doing so immediately afterwards. If this happens to you and you turn yourself in before the instructor leaves the room at the end of the session, the instructor will assign you a zero for the examination or quiz and report the offense, as required, to the Dean’s office, but will not assign a failing grade for the course or any other additional penalty.

Readings Abbreviations:

· AA: Aleksandr Afanas′ev. Russian Fairy Tales. New York: Pantheon. 1975.

· BB: Bruno Bettelheim. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage Books. 2010.

· CL: On line at http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/.

· CP: Course Pack. Available in the Pitt Book Center.

· CW: CourseWeb http://courseweb.pitt.edu for this course.

· ER: Electronic Reserves. The instructor will announce the e-reserve password in class. Please do not share this password with anyone not enrolled in this course.

· LI: Linda Ivanits. Russian Folk Belief. NY: M. E. Sharpe. 1992.

· OL: On-line resources on public websites.

Please bring all required readings for that day’s class with you to each class!!!

Proposed Schedule (subject to revision)

Class 1: Thursday, January 6

Topics:

· Introduction

· Terms (philology and folklore)

· Film clip: Tennant, Ever After (1998)

· Max Luthi on the stylistic characteristics of folktales

· Film clip: Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)

· Discussion of “Salt” (handout of AA: pp. 40-44)

PowerPoint: Introduction, Stylistic Characteristics

Class 2: Thursday, January 13

Topics:

· Cultural context

· Terms (religion and anthropology)

· Slavic paganism, Christianity, and “dual belief”

· Sorcery

· Baba Yaga and Koshchey the Deathless

· Film clip: Tarkovskii, Andrei Rublev (1966)

· Film clip: Paradjanov, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)

· Film clip: Mikhalkov and Seydoux, Barber of Siberia

· Film clip: Ryazanov, The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath (1975)

· Music: Mussorgskii, “Night on Bald Mountain”

· Film clip: Disney, Fantasia (1940)

PowerPoint: Paganism, Sorcery, Baba Yaga and Koshchey the Deathless

Assignment:

· CW: Submit completed “Student Questionnaire” located at http://courseweb.pitt.edu Course Documents

· CL: Definitions of Basic Terms on line at http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/definitions.html

· LI: pp. 3–18 (paganism), 51–63 (domestic spirits), 64–82 (nature spirits), 169–77 (domestic spirit narratives), 178–89 (nature spirit narratives)

· CL: Pushkin, “Rusalka,” http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/rusalka.html

· AA: “Ivan the Peasant’s Son and the Thumb-Sized Man,” pp. 262–68 (stylistic characteristics)

· AA: “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” pp. 439-47 (stylistic characteristics)

· AA: “Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf,” pp. 612-24 (stylistic characteristics)

· AA: “Baba Yaga and the Brave Youth,” pp. 76–79

· AA: “Baba Yaga,” pp. 194–95

· AA: “Koshchey the Deathless,” pp. 485–93

Class 3, January 20

Topics:

· Nikolai Gogol′ (Mykola Hohol′)

· Film, Kropachev/Ptushko, Viy (1967)

PowerPoint: Nikolai Gogol′ (Mykola Hohol′)

Assignment:

· OL: Gogol′, “Viy,” http://lib.udm.ru/lib/GOGOL/vij_engl.txt

· AA: “The Sorceress,” pp. 567–68

· AA: “The Vampire,” pp. 593–98

· LI: “The Colonel and the Witch,” pp. 194–95

Class 4, January 27

Topics:

· Tatyana Tolstaya

· Nina Sadur

· Review for examination #1

PowerPoint: Tatyana Tolstaya, Nina Sadur

Assignment:

· Write out and bring to class questions and answers for the exam review (details to be announced)

· ER: Tolstaya, “Date with a Bird,” pp. 116-130

o CL: Reading Guide for “Date with a Bird” (http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/tolstaya_guide.html)

· ER: Tolstaya, “The Poet and the Muse,” pp. 117–31

· AA: “The Feather of Finist, the Bright Falcon,” pp. 580–88

· CL: Guide to Russian mythic birds (http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/birds.html)

· ER: Sadur, “The Cute Little Readhead,” pp. 235-41

· ER: Sadur, “The Witch’s Tears,” pp. 264-69

· ER: Sadur, “Silky Hair,” pp. 249-52

· ER: Sadur, “Rings,” pp. 241-46 (optional)

· CL: Birnbaum and Sarsenov, “Who is the Cute Little Redhead?” (http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/sadur_redhead_2003-11-19.pdf)

Class 5, February 3

Examination #1

Class will resume after the exam with the following:

Topics:

· Magic numbers, symbolism

· Epics and byliny

· Film clip: Ptushko, The Sword and the Dragon (1956)

PowerPoint: Magic Numbers, Symbolism; Epics and Byliny

Assignment:

· OL: “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber” (bylina), http://www.artrusse.ca/Byliny/ilya_robber.htm

· AA: “Ivan the Simpleton,” pp. 142–45

· AA: “Foma Berennikov,” pp. 284–87

· AA: “Ilya Muromets and the Dragon,” pp. 569–75

· OL: “Sadko,” http://www.artrusse.ca/Byliny/sadko.htm

Class 6, February 10

· The authorship of folklore

· Structuralist approach to fairy tales

· Psychoanalytic approaches to fairy tales

o Freudian: Bruno Bettelheim

o Jungian: Marie-Louise von Franz

o Self Theory: Sheldon Cashdan

· Film clip: Armstrong, Freud (1984)

PowerPoint: Folklore as a Special Form of Creativity, Propp and Structuralism, Psychology and Fairy Tales

Assignment:

· ER: Bogatyrev and Jakobson, “Folklore as a Special Form of Creativity,” pp. 32–46

· AA: Jakobson, “Commentary: On Russian Fairy Tales, 1. Their Life—Their Study; 2. Their Characteristic Features, “ pp. 629-651 (optional)

· OL: Propp, Chapter 2, “The Method and Material,” http://homes.dico.unimi.it/~alberti/Mm10/doc/propp.pdf, or http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.133.1322&rep=rep1&type=pdf

· OL: Propp, “The Functions of the Dramatis Personae (in a true oral folk tale),” http://www-personal.umich.edu/~esrabkin/Propp.htm

· CW: Metil, “Jungian Analysis of Fairy Tales—Part One: Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious and Individuation,” in Metil, et al., Jung Primer

· AA: “The Magic Swan Geese,” pp. 349–51

· AA: “The Crystal Mountain,” pp. 482-85

· AA: “The Three Kingdoms, Copper, Silver, and Gold,” pp. 375–87

· BB: pp. 101-111 (“The Three Feathers”: Youngest Child as Simpleton)

· AA: “Ivanushko, the Little Fool,” pp. 62–66

Class 7, February 17

Topics:

· Typologies of tales

· Two Sibling tales

· Youngest Child tales

· Animal Bride and Animal Groom Tales

· Film clip: Cocteau, Beauty and Beast (1946)

· Film clip: Disney, Beauty and Beast (1991)

· Film clip: Adamson/Jenson, Shrek (2001)

· Video clip: Swan Lake (ballet)

PowerPoint: Two-Sibling Tales, Animal Brides and Grooms

Assignment:

· BB: pp. 78–83 (“Brother and Sister”: Unifying Our Dual Nature), 90–96 (Tales of Two Brothers)

· AA: “The Armless Maiden,” pp. 294–99

· AA: “The Magic Swan Geese,” pp. 349–51

· AA: “Shemiaka the Judge,” pp. 625–27

· AA: “Salt,” pp. 40–44

· AA: “The Princess Who Wanted to Solve Riddles,” pp. 115–17

· AA: “Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf,” pp. 612–24

· AA: “Misery,” pp. 20–24

· AA: “Two Ivans, Soldier’s Sons,” pp. 463–75

· BB: pp. 282–291 (The Animal Groom, “Snow White and Rose-Red,” “The Frog King”), 295–310 (“The Enchanted Pig,” “Bluebeard,” “Beauty and the Beast”)

· CL: Aksakov, “The Little Scarlet Flower,” http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/little_scarlet_flower.pdf

· AA: “The Frog Princess,” 119–23

· AA: “The Snotty Goat,” 200-2

Class 8, Monday, February 24

· Feminism and fairy tales

· Wicked stepmothers

· Self Theory looks at Envy

· Cinderella tales

· Snow White tales

· Film clip: Disney, Snow White (1937)

· Film clip: Disney, Cinderella (1950)

· Film clip: Tennant, Ever After (1998)

· Music: Prokof′ev: Cinderella (ballet) (optional)

PowerPoint: Feminism, Stepmothers and Cinderella Tales, Snow White Tales

Assignment:

· ER: Bottigheimer, “Silenced Women in the Grimms’ Tales,” pp. 115–31

· OL: Lieberman, “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” pp. 185–200, http://www.jstor.org/pss/375142

· ER: Warner, “Wicked Stepmothers,” pp. 218–40

· ER: Gilbert and Gubar, “The Queen’s Looking Glass,” pp. 201-206

· BB: pp. 66–73 (Transformations: The Fantasy of the Wicked Stepmother)

· AA: “Burenushka, the Little Red Cow,” pp. 146–50

· AA: “The Maiden Tsar,” pp. 229–34

· AA: “Daughter and Stepdaughter,” pp. 278–79

· AA: “The Grumbling Old Woman,” pp. 340–41 (optional)

· ER: Cashdan, “Envy,” 85–105

· AA: “Jack Frost,” pp. 366–69

· AA: “The Golden Slipper,” pp. 44–46

· AA: “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” pp. 439–47

· BB: pp. 199–215 (“Snow White”)

Class 9, Monday, March 3

· Bad Wife tales

· Wise Maiden tales

· Riddles

· Sleeping Beauty tales

· Video clip: Sleeping Beauty (Ballet)

· Review for examination #1

PowerPoint: Bad Wives and Wise Maidens, Sleeping Beauty and the Snow Maiden

Assignment:

· Write out and bring to class questions and answers for the exam review (details to be announced)