ENG 198: Chung

Welcome to the University of Dayton Libraries' guide to ENG 198 with Professor Chung. Click on the tabs to explore the many resources available to support the research requirements for this course.

COURSE THEME

Fairy tales have been present in our culture across media—from oral tradition to literature to movies and new media including the Internet. Told and retold in various historical/cultural contexts, fairy tales reveal complicated discourses on gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, nation, etc. and ultimately raise questions about how humans ought to make meaning in an uncertain world. As a renowned fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes argues, “We are always in the process of making and remaking ourselves, and in many respects, the making and remaking of fairy tales charts our struggles to be at home with ourselves and at home with the cultures that affect us” (Jack Zipes, “Filmic Adaptation and Appropriation of the Fairy Tale” p.15).

The main goal of our course is to read, analyze, and revision fairy tales to explore various social and cultural issues as addressed in the tales, shape our own belief about those issues and advocate what we believe. We will try to engage with fairy tales critically and  creatively for audiences in the academic context and beyond through class discussions, written arguments, and creative retellings. In doing so, we will address the following questions: What is the significance of the continual telling and retelling of fairy tales? What is their societal role and cultural purpose? How can we reimagine the meaning of fairy tales to understand our own time? In our attempt to answer these questions throughout the course, we will learn that multiple readings and retellings of a text create a network of meanings and discourses, which leads to the understanding that openness to diversity and critical engagement through literacy are central to human communication.