November 15th

Essay 2 topic

The outline requirement is 1,000 words. If you want to stick to that, excellent. If you want to go up to 1,500 or thereabouts, that's perfectly OK with me. If you want to go higher than this, check with me first.

The use of secondary sources is advised.

Take ONE aspect of The Princess and the Goblin that has interested you or caught your attention, and use that as the basis for discussion and/or analysis in your essay.

That aspect is entirely up to you, and it can be as narrow as you like. I am interested in what interests you, and what you would like to research/consider in more detail. If you are concerned that your topic might not be appropriate, then either e-mail me giving a brief description of what you want to look at, or see me in office hours.

Due date: No later than November 24th

I recognize that some students would simply prefer to be given a detailed set topic, so to give them some idea of the possibilities, here are some suggestions of the areas you might consider. The list is by no means exhaustive, and I am sure some of you will come up with completely different topics!

MacDonald and the tradition - the book is full of elements that draw on various traditions, such as:

Symbolism:

The book is full of symbolism, and you could consider the use and importance of one recurring symbol, or a set of symbols (research the historical associations of such symbols):

Social and historical questions:

The Princess and the Goblin has an important place in the history of children's literature (as I have started to outline in the class). It also can be seen as reflecting social and cultural situations of the time. So possible topics are:

Spiritual questions:

The Princess and the Goblin is, at its heart, a book of a particular kind of spirituality. This is not an easy topic, because it is difficult to pin it down exactly, though almost every reader feels it. However, if this interests you, go for it - I suggest you also read At the Back of the North Wind and a biography of MacDonald.

Useful resources:

A lot of George Macdonald texts are available at Project Guttenburg's web site. I would suggest for those who are interested browsing through some of the children's texts, as if you are writing about things like Princesses, Nurses, or Grandmothers, you will find lots of parallels in some of his other works, and they are mostly quite short:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m#a127

There is a site with links to MacDonald bibliographies:
http://www.pford.stjohnsem.edu/ford/cslewis/macdonald.htm

Our web site has a section on goblins:
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/mmorris/388/goblins.htm

and there are quite a lot of very good earlier student essays. Go to:
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/mmorris/388/essays.htm
and:
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/mmorris/388/essays_2002.htm

(Don't hesitate to use them/cite from them as resources if you wish!)

Essay 1 topic

The outline requirement is 1,000 words. If you want to stick to that, excellent. If you want to go up to 1,500 or thereabouts, that's perfectly OK with me. If you want to go higher than this, check with me first.

Using the approaches and methods we have discussed in the class, analyze one of the folk tales in Hallett, Martin, and Barbara Karasek, eds. Folk and Fairy Tales that we have NOT discussed in class .

You could, for example,

Do not attempt to do too much - concentrate on one angle or approach.

You may chose a folk or fairy tale not in the text-book. If you do, check with me about the tale, and if appropriate include a copy of the folk or fairy tale with your essay.

Whatever approach you follow, see if you can indicate:

(subject to change) 

Provisional Course Outline for English 388, section A1

This schedule is subject to change. I have not listed the actual tales will be discussing in the first part of the class (September 15^th >), as I want to be flexible, and my choice will partly depend on how we progress. However, I will announce those tales well in advance. If you want to read ahead, we will be covering most of the tales in Folk and Fairy Tales (FFT)

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