CWL 119

Fall 2023

Part of Term 1
Aug 21-Dec 6
Literature of Fantasy
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Credit: 3 hours.

Same as ENGL 119. See ENGL 119.

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CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
65041
Online
D2
11:00AM -11:50AM
MWF
n.a.
Baron, I
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/21/23-12/06/23
Section Info:
FA23 CWL119/ENGL 119 Literature of Fantasy - Iryce Baron: British literature is commonly perceived to be a collection of stuffy texts written in older English dialects by men who died hundreds of years ago. But the English were actually on the cutting edge of literature when it came to developing fantastical tales of daring knights performing impossibly brave deeds. The Beowulf saga and other epic poems such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Faerie Queene advanced rich narratives that use imaginative mythic elements to laud heroic acts of personal and national honor, and to create texts that examine fraught sociopolitical issues. By the late 19th century, Lewis Carroll began to compose stories such as Alice in Wonderland, and in the early 20th century, J.M. Barrie penned Peter Pan which appealed to children of all ages. In the interwar period, P.L. Travers wrote her famous Mary Poppins novels. And in the midcentury modernist period, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, both academics at Oxford, began to delve into examining the aftermath of the World Wars and producing what we now commonly recognize as modern fantasy literature, igniting wide public interest in this subgenre of fiction. In this course, we’ll explore how fantasy lit transformed from being seen as just a collection of quaint bedtimes stories for upper middle class British children into a global literary enterprise that has produced some of the most complex and creative works in the last century. We’ll also examine why fantasy lit has sparked the interest of so many adult readers across the world. As we move through the semester, we’ll learn how to unpack the political elements in these texts and how more recent series such as Harry Potter and His Dark Materials reveal dark narratives about the rise of Alt-Right parties and the fight against white nationalist charismatic leaders. And we’ll study how these texts also unveil changing attitudes concerning gender, identity politics and critical race theory, including LGBTQ identities and the way contemporary writers designate gender. Students are required to actively attend class and to write three to four papers on the novels we read. Texts may include: Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, The Fellowship of the Rings, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Coraline.
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