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judithwq
Registered User
(10/26/01 8:25:58 am)
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Graduate programs in fairy tales
I'm interested in degree programs that would allow me to research and write on fairy tales.
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Heidi
Unregistered User
(10/26/01 2:41:49 pm)
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Patience please
Judith,
We do have some regular board members who have been irregularly on the board of late who attend various programs around the world. Hopefully some will reappear soon and be able to give you more insight into available programs.
Heidi
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Terri
Registered User
(10/27/01 7:04:58 am)
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Welcome
Judith,
Welcome to the fairy tale discussion board. Since you're probably
too modest to mention it, I'd like to let the others know that you're
the author of "Herbal Rituals," published by St. Martin's
Press, which will be of interest to a number of people here. (For
more info on the book, check out Judith's web site: www.judithberger.com)
Edited by: Terri at: 10/27/01 7:06:24
am
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Helen
Registered User
(10/27/01 7:58:39 am)
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Well ...
Dear Judith:
Your book looks fascinating - I look forward to reading it. Graduate programs in fairy tale studies can be problematic, as I learned last year (much to my chagrin), and as I am continuing to learn this year. Folklore programs seem like a good match at first - but, many folklorists are purists, so if you're interested in literary fairy tales as well as folktales, make sure ahead of time that the department in question will permit it. U.C. Berkeley has an MA program, U. Penn. has a Ph.D., the U. of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill has a Ph.D., and Indiana has a Ph.D. If you have a decent grasp of at least one langauage other than English, Comp. Lit. can be a good match, again, depending upon the program and its specific limitations). Right now, I'm working on an MA in Comp. Lit. at Dartmouth - we have Nancy Canepa here, who is both a brilliant researcher, and, as I've been gleefully discovering over the last month or so, a wonderful advisor. If Italien tales, or, specifically, Basile, fall into your area of interest, this is the place to be. We also have Laurence Davies, who is incredibly knowledgable concerning Gaelic and African folklore, and modern science fiction. He's quite marvelous. It's a wonderful place ... (not to plug my program too much, but it *is*). . It really depends upon the professors - Jack Zipes is at the University of Minnesota in Comp. Lit., Jack Haney is at the University of Washington (crucial for me, as Russian is my language ... BTW, is anyone else familiar with his work? He's BRILLIANT). Marina Tatar is at Harvard in German, though I think that she can work in Comp. Lit. - I'm not sure, but she's coming to Dartmouth on Nov. 15th, and I can check with her if you'd like, though e-mailing would undoubtably be quicker. English departments also sometimes have fairy tale scholars, though, oddly, more rarely. U.C. Knopflmacher is at Princeton now, but I believe that he's retiring soon. Ruth Bottengheimer, is at SUNY Albany, the Endicott Studio's Heinz Insu Feinkel is beginning an Intersitial Studies program at SUNY New Paltz, and Christina Bachilega (I'm beginning to feel that I've misspelled the names of all of the people in this sentence .... arrgghhhh, not enough sleep ... apologies to all concerned) is working at the University of Hawaii. Wayne State University is home to Marvels and Tales, and has a number of people with leanings our way there ... and that's only the tip of the iceberg. The trick is to find a place that dovetails neatly with your goals ... and then to fight, tooth and nail, to get a place there. I hope this helps ... if you have any specific questions, feel free to e-mail me at Helen.Pilinovsky@dartmouth.edu. Have a great weekend!
Best,
Helen
Edited by: Helen at: 10/29/01 5:16:30 pm
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judithwq
Registered User
(10/28/01 9:26:02 am)
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Re: Well ...
Thanks for all that information, Helen. When I know my specific questions I'll e-mail you-
Judith
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Kerrie
Registered User
(11/2/01 6:56:20 pm)
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I'm not sure if this counts...
but I was speaking recently with Kamui about a class she took at University of Texas called Parageography (which could probably be a whole topic here by itself). I'm not sure if there are any other relevant classes, but from what she told me, it was the study of created worlds in literature. I think this could be highly relavant to a study in fairy tales and folklore:
www.utexas.edu/depts/clas...2k/cc.html
www.esb.utexas.edu/nrm199...graphy.htm
It's the class she created the world AElit for her book, the spelling of which I can't remember, so I won't butcher it, but here's the link to her site for it:
clio.ninemuses.com/
I think the class is undergrad, but sounds like a course to definitely
look into if you're in the area. Any input, Kamui? (Not to put you
on the spot. )
Forest frosts,
Kerrie
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Kamui
Unregistered User
(11/2/01 7:14:09 pm)
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parageography
You know, I tried to start a Parageography e-group, but nobody joined.
I have to say, Dr. Parker's class is truly unique--seeing as how he made it up and all--and was the best creative writing class I ever took. Besides the fun of studying "The Odessey" and Spencer's "Fairie Queene" and Narnia and what-not, we had a lovely time creating worlds of our own. My world (AElit) eventually became the basis for a children's book series.
It was an undergraduate class, a one-shot wonder sort of thing, embedded in the Classical History department (my minor). We didn't study fairy tales per se, but my guess is there would certainly be some interesting ties between the two.
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catja1
Registered User
(12/8/01 7:14:15 pm)
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Re: parageography
Yeah, what Helen said!
You might also want to try children's lit programs. I got an MA in Folklore from Ohio State, and while it's an excellent program (Amy Shuman, in particular, is wonderful), they don't deal with fairy tales much. But children's lit is a great area to pursue fairy tale studies from;as of right now, the only graduate level children's lit programs that I know of (that is, which are in English rather than education departments) are U Pittsburgh, U Connecticut at Storrs, and U Florida, my current home. John Cech (the program director) and Kenneth Kidd both adore fairy tales, and incorporate them as much as they can into their courses; Kenneth is teaching a course in Psychoanalysis and Children's Lit next semester, and we're going to do an in-depth study of Bettelheim.
Another advantage is that children's lit is becoming an increasingly trendy field; Kenneth told me that positions go unfilled each year, because the demand exceeds the supply of children's lit PhDs. Granted, no one goes into academia for job security, but that is an angle to consider.
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