English 120 - Uses of Storytelling

Nancy Bradbury

MWF 10:00-10:50 a.m.

Stories entertain us, but they also teach, convert, mislead, mystify, and console us; they shape the way we think and maybe even keep us alive. In this course, we will read narratives by a variety of storytellers from a number of cultures and historical periods. We will look closely at the language and technique of these stories, and then move from close reading to a larger rhetorical perspective: What designs do these narratives have on their readers or hearers? What attitudes and beliefs in their potential audiences do they rely upon and what modest or dramatic attempts do they make to change their readers' views? What gives stories their astonishing power to restructure our mental worlds?

 

Requirements: 4 5-page papers, one of them to be thoroughly revised; regular attendance; and thoughtful participation.

 

The reading list will look something like this:

 

Aesop, Fables

Brother Leo, Tales of the Companions of St. Francis

William Carlos Williams, The Doctor Stories

Linda Degh, Folktales And Society: Story-Telling In A Hungarian Peasant Community

Alessandro Falassi, Folklore by the Fireside: Text and Context of the Tuscan Veglia

Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber

Junot D'az, Drown

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried