- Summer 2015
Additional Details:
OVERVIEW
A survey of narrative tradition and structure as they pertain to arts, culture, history and society.
Since human beings first organized as societies, stories have existed as a universal phenomenon embodying morality, ethics, spirituality, poetics and history.
Through myth, folktale, fairytale, fable, historical narrative, literature and drama, humanity has sought to make meaning of existence through storytelling.
This class examines the origins and uses of narrative on a global scale, and presents the various forms of storytelling that inform our daily lives today and in particular the dramatic arts.
Each of us is a living a story: our lives, dreams, crises and events shape the narrative we are a pati of. By studying the sources and nature of narrative storytelling, we can better understand the forces that shape our lives and how we can apply narrative skills to enhance our understanding of the world around us.
Readings:
Michael Meade: The World Behind the World (Selections)
The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (Selections)
Mieke Bal: Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative (Selections)
Bruno Bettelheim: The Uses of Enchantment (Selections)
Rick Altman A Theory of Narrative (Selections)
Aristotle: The Poetics
Sophocles: Oedipus The King
Joseph Campbell The Hero with a Thousand Faces
C. G. Jung: The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Selected chapters)
Selected short stories.
CLASS STRUCTURE:
The Art of Story is a lecture and discussion class. Students will read selected works that are the basis for the lectures, and then apply narrative techniques to stories, both original and assigned.
In break-out sessions, students will collaborate in small groups on shaping stories and present them back to the class.
Students will also write three short essays that offer an analysis of a given story with the narrative tools given in the lectures