Looking Back

Looking back on the semester, I got more out of the class than I was expecting. Before starting the class I had presumed that it would focus solely on European folk and fairy tales. I was pleasantly surprised to find material from all sorts of cultures, from China to Native Americans.

Overall I enjoyed the materials. Seeing folk and fairy tales from other cultures that I had never seen before was an enjoyable experience. It was interesting both to see tales I am familiar with in greater depth and to see unfamiliar ones. The different classifications of story motifs and narratives was one of my favorite parts, as it provided an interesting glimpse into the core functions of folk and fairy tales and how they influence stories today.

Logistically, it was somewhat challenging to approach the stories with different interpretational styles. The Freudian approach we used early on was particularly frustrating for my, as I am in general not a fan of its simplistic "everything is sexual" interpretations. In terms of reading it wasn't so bad. The amount of reading required was comparable to the average class and didn't pose too much difficulty, though a few rereadings were needed for certain works in order to get all the details.

All in all I greatly enjoyed this class. I learned a lot about stories I already knew and stories I'd never read before, in the process learning about greater cultural contexts and derivative ideas.

Arabian Folktales

Though stories may contain similar elements, motifs, and characters, they are different the world over. An English fairy tale is different than a German one, and these differences are only more pronounced the farther you look. So when looking at Arabian folktales, you can bet they're quite different that the typical European ones.

The most prominent difference is the use of a framing device. For example, 1001 Nights is presented as a series of tales told by the wife of a king, all ensuring he had to wait until the next night to hear the end of her story and thus delaying her execution. This is a marked difference from the likes of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, which were simply stories presented on their own. This framing story adds another metalayer of narrative, elevating the tales of 1001 Nights beyond ordinary fairy tales into somethign else. It also blurs the line with legend, as it adds setting details that root the stories in a aprticular time and palce, yet does not actually affected the framed stories themselves.

Another point of difference is the connection to religion and spirituality. Much like the stories of the Native Americans, these tales are connected to the beleifs of the area. 1001 Nights contains references and praises to Allah, distinctly connecting it to a particular setting and culture in a way most stories would leave to subtext and interperetation.