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Author
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Comment
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LoulabelleUK
Registered User
(4/7/05 2:09 pm)
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University Dissertation Topic
Hi
I would like some help as I am looking for a topic to study for my major project for my third year of University.
I am interested in fairytales (particulary gruesome/magical/from other countries - I live in the UK), children's literature (victorian/early 20th c) and fantasy fiction (I'm interested in the idea of other worlds e.g. Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Oz).
I have tried to come up with a particular aspect to study but I can only think of extremely broad ideas such as 'morality in fairytales' as I am not really familiar with the subjects involved.
I have tried reading a few books but none have been very helpful.
Can anyone suggest a few interesting areas to look into that take my interests into account?
Thanks
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/7/05 2:24 pm)
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Re: University Dissertation Topic
I'd start by picking out the books that you want most to work on, and re-reading them. As you do, jot down random things about them that you find interesting and unusual. Afterwards, do a little brainstorming about what the texts you've just read have in common.
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LoulabelleUK
Registered User
(4/7/05 2:33 pm)
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Re: University Dissertation Topic
Thank you for your reply, however I have been told to choose a topic (and books) I haven't studied before...so I would like to think of an area/topic to look into before choosing my books
I really do understand your point though and if I had lots of time I would try reading lots of books/stories but I havent been given much time to choose my topic
..so that's why I am a bit stuck...I would like help with finding themes/approaches and them I can focus my reading on certain aspects
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Crceres
Registered User
(4/8/05 9:20 am)
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Specificity
The advice I've gotten is to focus on something very specific, since you'll still find loads of information when you get into it a bit. The classic example is the girl who did "The development of Grecian anklewear as shown on urns" for her graduate thesis.
Do you want to concentrate on historical or cultural basis for stories, or perhaps trace the route of one particular story? If you want to do something regarding morality in fairy tales, maybe pick out a particular example. E.g. breaking a promise, which shows up in the East of the Sun type stories.
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Writerpatrick
Registered User
(4/8/05 10:47 am)
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Re: University Dissertation Topic
You could also concentrate on the evolution of the fairy tale. How are the tales treated today compared to one hundred years ago, and how did they get that way?
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avalondeb
Registered User
(4/10/05 10:31 am)
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Re: University Dissertation Topic
I agree with WriterPatrick. I would look into the evolution of the fairytale. How different stories have changed over time and WHY they have changed.
For example Sleeping Beauty got pregnant while she slept, then she was awoken after 100 years by a kiss, and now she only sleeps about a night and then is awoken by a kiss (disney version). You could also do the different takes on Cinderella, some of which were just discussed on another thread.
I think it would be a very interesting topic. Good luck!
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/10/05 11:05 am)
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Re: University Dissertation Topic
That's why the Disney Sleeping Beauty bugs me so much--she
barely lies down for a minute! She's really "Catnapping Beauty"
instead.
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LoulabelleUK
Registered User
(4/14/05 4:50 pm)
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Re: University Dissertation Topic
I would like to cover domestic fantasy in children's literature e.g. fantasy worlds which appear in everyday life such as in Mary poppins/Narnia/Alice in Wonderland
Can anyone think of an interesting angle on this eg ideology in these stories?
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Jess
Unregistered User
(4/15/05 8:34 am)
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Hmm
Those are very different stories from one another, so it might be difficult (another good one is the Five Children and It). You could contrast the fantasy world created in some of these stories (I mean there is a whole different universe in Narnia and Alice) with those stories in which you are altering reality in this world for the participants (Mary Poppins; Five Children).
One thing that makes fantasy palatible is when the fantasy "world" is "consistent" with itself. How is this done in these stories?
Jess
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beautifulstars
Unregistered User
(4/17/05 10:56 pm)
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possibility
The idea of 'consistency with it-self' is a great one...I read somewhere recently (regarding Alice in Wonderland) that although Carroll/Dodgson wrote it for children, he understood that children have their own sense of rules, so he inserted a series of Wonderland rules so as not to alienate his inspiration.
The idea of looking at various 'play-lands' or 'fantasy-lands' and how they represent certain parts of the psyche, or involve a sense of play, or even rules, might be interesting. Wonderland, Neverland, Narnia...there's so many other possibilities. Tom HOlt's 'Snow White and the Seven Samurai' is a great example of a 'fairytales fantasy land' that requires rules to exist. You could even involve Shakespeare's 'Midsummer's Night Dream. THere was a book pub. recently -- 'Inventing Neverland.'
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redtriskell
Registered User
(4/19/05 1:29 am)
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through the looking glass
You mentioned earlier that you were also interested in children's fantasy. I thonk you could do a very interesting dissertation on the similarities/differences of mirror imagery by comparing "Alice" to "Coraline"- a novel by Neil Gaiman that involves a young girl's trip to a mirror world. Of course, because it's Neil, it's a much darker place than Alice's Wonderland. There's also a nice tie-in to the mirror as a symbol in other tales. Obviously, Snow White comes to mind... but there's also stuff in mermaid lore and many folktales. Just a thought. Good luck.
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