Seminar
Read the following short texts. Then in class we will be answering the questions:
- a) is this text the rewriting of an old fairy tales? If so, which one?
- b) which elements in the text helped you recognize the old fairy tale?
- c) is the tone and atmosphere of this new fairy tale the same as in the old one? Is it respectful of the old tale? Or is it mocking it?
- d) are there elements that are alien to a traditional tale? if so, which ones?
a. Angela Carter – “The Werewolf”
This is Angela Carter’s short story ‘The Werewolf”, which is a (post)modernist rewriting of an old fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Cap” a.k.a. “Rotkäpchen” or “Petit chaperon rouge”.
I invite you to read now the whole story, which is a very short one, under 3 pages long. Please read it here and then answer the questions below:
Angela Carter – The Werewolf (from Biblioklept)
The you may read or just listen to Brothers Grimm “Little Red Riding Hood” (you can also play the audio there, it’ß just 7 mi utes long)
- 1. Name just two points in which Carter’s story differs the most from Grimms’ tale.
- 2. Why is the girl equipped with a knife? What does this tell us about her?
- 3. How do you interpret that the wolf later turns out to be granny?
- 4. Why is granny not saved in the end?
- 5. Why is the girl not saved by a (male) hunter? What is the role of the community here?
- 6. Does “And she prospered” in ther end seem insensitive and cruel to you? What does it mean?
You will answer these orally in class.
There are no right answers here! Just opinions. And I want to know your opinion. So please do not get “inspiration” from the internet, for I don’t care about fancy critical explanations here!