1877.10 - Folktales


Course number
1877.10
Title
Folktales
ECTS
10
Purpose
The purpose of the course is to introduce students to folktales as a type of oral literature, the history of recording and the process from oral narrative to written version, and forms of interpretation.
Content
We will work with Jakob Jakobsen’s records and how he edits his material in Færøske folkesagn og Æventyr. We will compare with processes in other countries: Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Thiele and others in Denmark, P. Christian Asbjørnsen in Norway and others. We will work with a new theory about the contents and interpretation of folktales and also examine how different narrators tell the same story. We will read, in part or in full, works like Aarne & Thompson: The Types of the Folk Tales. V. Propp: The Morphology of the Folktale, Bengt Holbek: Interpretation of Fairy Tales, Max Lüthi: Das Europeische Volksmärchen and Märchen und Wirklichkeit, Darnton: When Peasants tell Stories. And other materials.
Learning and teaching approaches
The course will be divided into seminars and presentations. The working method requires active student participation with presentations and assignments throughout the course.
Assessment method
Set or open take-home assignment.
Contact
Eyðun Andreasen