Undergraduate Course: Fairy Tales (ENLI10274)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is intended to introduce students to significant exponents of the literary fairy tale in Britain and Europe from the Renaissance to the contemporary period, enabling them to explore the evolution and development of the genre across time with regard to its changing aesthetic form and the different range of cultural, social, and symbolic meanings which the genre invokes. |
| Course description |
'Fairy Tales seek to remake the world in the image of desire' (Marina Warner).
Fairy tales lie at the heart of almost all cultures at all times - fantastical, magical fictions which, according to Marina Warner, reshape the world 'in the image of desire'. Acknowledging its diversity and plurality, this course introduces you to a particular moment, or series of moments, in its literary history. We will trace the development of the richness of fairytale art from the c16th century to the contemporary period, from the birth of the literary fairy tale in Italy and France and its reshaping as children's literature in the hands of the brothers Grimm to the variety of its imaginative reenchantments in modern literature and film. Each week we will seek to read our texts with close attention and sensitivity to questions of form, context, and thematic subject-matter, exploring such issues as the relationship between fairy tales and childhood; their imaginative telling and invention; their representation of bodies, sexualities, genders, identities; the depths of their emotional and psychological worlds; their engagement with questions of politics, class, identities. Throughout the course, we will also explore and evaluate a variety of critical and theoretical approaches to fairytale.
Indicative reading list for 2025/26
Marie de France
Giovanni Francesco Straparola
Giambattista Basile
Charle Perrault
Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
The Brothers Grimm
Hans Christian Andersen
Angela Carter
Nalo Hopkinson
Helen Oyeyemi
Sarah Maitland
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
2000 word coursework essay (30%) submitted mid-semester;
plus 3000 word final essay submitted during exam period (70%).
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Recognize and trace the historical development of the fairy tale genre in a British and European context. Understand and evaluate different definitions and theoretical approaches to the genre.
- Compare and contrast traditional and classical tale variants. Analyse and interpret the formal literary and aesthetic properties of the genre.
- Understand and evaluate the role of women writers in the creation and perpetuation of the genre.
- Explain the role of fairy tales in Romantic literary nation-formation.
- Explore questions of gender, sexuality and identity both within traditional and classical variants, and in subsequent revisionings or reinterpretations and understand the changing cultural and symbolic functions of fairy tales over time
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/undergraduate/current/honours |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
Numbers are limited, with priority given to students taking degrees involving English or Scottish Literature and Visiting Students placed by the Admissions Office. Students not in these categories need the written approval of the Head of English Literature before enrolling. In the case of excess applications places will be decided by ballot. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Seminar: 2 hour(s) per week for 10 week(s); plus attendance for one hour a week at Autonomous Learning Group - at time to be arranged. |
| Keywords | ENLI10274 Fairy Tales |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Peter Adkins
Tel: (0131 6)51 7112
Email: Peter.Adkins@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Sheila Strathdee
Tel: (0131 6)50 3619
Email: S.Strathdee@ed.ac.uk |
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