Course Syllabus

European Storytelling: From Myth to Marvel

Semester & Location:	Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Classics, History, Literature
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty Member:	Bettina Sejbjerg Sommer, (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	Mondays & Thursdays 10:05 - 11:25 in V23-201

Description of Course 

An introduction to the tradition of European storytelling, encompassing myths, fairytales and medieval legends; and how these traditional stories live on in fantasy, movies, role playing and other modern uses of storytelling. As well as introducing the stories in their historical context, the course will explore various theoretical approaches to them.

Course Content

This course, taught at the upper-division level, is an introduction to European oral tradition, as expressed in European myth-cycles, legends and fairytales, from the earliest known sources up to and including modern uses of this tradition.

After a brief introduction to the field, we will start with discussing fairy tales and folk tales. The reason for beginning with the fairy tales is that this allows us to introduce some of the main methods and theories for working with oral narratives, which will be relevant throughout the course. This encompasses the folkloristic methods and theories of Axel Olrik, Alan Dundes and Vladimir Propp.

We will continue with introductions to the main mythologies of Europe: Greek, Nordic and Celtic.

Parallel with the presentation of these mythological traditions, some of the major theoretical approaches will be introduced, such as the psychology of C.G. Jung and the Hero Pattern theories of Joseph Campbell, Otto Rank and Lord Raglan.

The purpose for this is to present these theories early on in the course, so that we may be able to apply them to the material presented in the rest of the course.

Therefore the beginning of the course will be weighted towards introducing theories, but in the second half of the course there will be an increased emphasis on introducing the story material itself, as well as its historical context.

We will continue with the great heroic legend cycles of the medieval age: King Arthur, the Nibelungenlied and the Volsung-cycle.

Finally, the course will move on to modern uses of traditional storytelling and how traditional stories live on in modern culture in the form of fantasy literature, movies, role-playing and computer games.

Faculty

Bettina Sejbjerg Sommer

Bettina Sejbjerg Sommer is mag. art. in the History of Religion, University of Copenhagen 2006. She is a specialist in Folklore and Nordic Religion and has published articles on Nordic Religion in periodicals. She teaches Nordic Mythology at the University of Copenhagen and at DIS. With DIS since 2006.

Office Hours 

By appointment. Please call between 10 am and 10 pm or send an email.

Course Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a familiarity with all the major myth- and story cycles of European tradition
• Demonstrate a familiarity with a variety of major theoretical schools
• Demonstrate an understanding of the historical context of the various myth- and story cycles
• Apply the theories to traditional texts of the type introduced in the course
• Recognize the influence of traditional texts in other, more modern forms of literature
• Apply certain of the theories to these other forms of literature as well
• Compose a research paper which will demonstrate ability to independently identify and analyze a problem-field in traditional literature, using an appropriate theoretical approach

Class Format

Lectures, questions and answers, and class discussion. Field Studies. Examinations, quizzes, and research papers.

Reading Assignments

The reading for each class meeting is indicated in the Canvas course calendar and can be found on Canvas under files and through links in the syllabus. Students are expected to have done the reading before each class and to be active participants in class discussion.

 

Graded Assignments:

Midterm Exam

Midterm four-hour exam: two essays of app. 450 words each on topics given by the instructor.

The exam will become available on Canvas on the day indicated in the syllabus. When you open the exam the topics will be visible, you then have max. 4 hours to submit the exam in Canvas.

Final paper

The Final Paper (6-7 pages) is on a topic selected by the student together with the instructor. The purpose of this paper is to allow the student to work in-depth on a specific topic of special interest.

It is important that you read the document "Storytelling Research Paper," which can be found under "Files."

To help you in the writing process of the final paper, there will be instructions during lectures and one lecture will be dedicated to a paper writing workshop. See the syllabus for the date of this.

 

This course emphasizes the importance of individual research and critical thinking. Consequently, the use of AI writing tools is categorically prohibited. The use of these tools not only undermines your learning journey but will also be regarded as a severe breach of academic integrity.

Furthermore, AI tools have proven unreliable for the writing of academic papers of this type: they frequently hallucinate both facts and sources and therefore produce papers which are full of factual errors and inaccurate information. Therefore I strongly warn against using them for academic writing.

 

In-class presentation

Each student must make an individual 5-10 min. presention in class about a story of their choice. 

The purpose is to briefly introduce the story to the class and then subject this story to an analysis, either using some of the analysis tools studied in class, or analysing how this story draws on older storytelling elements/inspires modern storytelling. Before the presentation you must send a powerpoint to me with text and images of at least 4 slides.

You sign up for the presentation on Canvas under "People" where you will find a button with "Presentations". Instructions are available under "Presentations" in the "Assignments" heading, but further instruction will follow in class.

 

Field Studies

• Trip to Glyptoteket

Time and place will be announced in the calendar.

Please note that participation in field studies is mandatory. Exams and quizzes will contain questions which have only been addressed on field studies.

Grading Elements

Assignment	Percent
Class Attendance and Participation	15%
Presentation	15%
Midterm Exam	35%
Final Paper (6-7 pages)	35%

Please note: All written assignments, quizzes and exams MUST be completed to pass course.

General Information

Assignments must be delivered in Canvas on time, which is at midnight on the day due. Late papers will be penalized by a third of a grade per day, e.g. an A- papir three days late will count as a B- paper.

The Research Paper should be submitted in Canvas.

Papers must be written in accordance with the conventions listed in the MLA Handbook (available from DIS reference-library) and general guidelines of DIS. Bibliographies and endnotes are mandatory.

Schedule is subject to change if necessary with as much notice as possible. 

Laptops

In the interest of concentration and participation, the use of laptops will not be permitted in this class. Note-taking will have to be on paper. I expect your understanding and cooperation in this.

Cell phones and other electronic devices should be turned off and stored away.

If for some reason you feel that you require a laptop for note-taking, please talk to me, and an arrangement can be made, provided that you sit in the front row.

Readings

In addition to the readings listed, we will vote on a topic within contemporary fantasy, which you will be expected to familiarize yourselves with, so that you can participate in a discussion of the story by the end of the semester :) 

Novel

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit: chapters 1-5 + chapter 12. 

Texts found on Canvas under Files

1: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: What is myth? In: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Introduction to Mythology. Oxford: OUP, 2009. P. 3-20.

5: Lacoss, Jann: Propp applied to Harry Potter. In: Lana Whited (ed.): The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter. University of Missouri Press, 2004.

6: The Morphology of the Folktale – Vladimir Propp. In: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Introduction to Mythology. Oxford: OUP, 2009.

9: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Man and His Symbols. In: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Introduction to Mythology. Oxford: OUP, 2009. P. 468-484.

10: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Heroes and Tricksters. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Introduction to Mythology. Oxford: OUP, 2009

11: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Hero Patterns of Rank and Raglan. In: Thury, Eva & Margaret Devinney: Introduction to Mythology. Oxford: OUP, 2009.

12: Excerpt from Peter Madsen et al, "Valhalla 1. Ulven er løs". Bagsværd, 1979,

pp. 3-10. Transl. Bettina Sommer.

13: Characters in the Edda, by Bettina Sommer.

14: Snorri Sturluson: Edda. London, Everyman, 2002. P. 37-52, 59-64.

15: The Saga of the Volsungs. The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Introduction and Translation by Jesse L. Byock. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1990. P. 55-72; 78-84.

16: The Nibelungenlied. Trans by A. T. Hatto. London, Penguin, 1966. P. 17-32, 53-54, 87-93.

17: Burns, Marjorie: Bridges, gates and doors. In: Perilous Realms, Univ. of Toronto Press, 2005.

18: Characters in the Mabinogion, by Bettina Sommer.

19: The Mabinogion. Trans. by Sioned Davies. OUP, 2007. The First Branch of the Mabinogi, p. 3-21

20: Malory, Thomas: Le Morte D´Arthur. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Ed. Ltd., 1996. a: Malory p. 1-9, 151-152, 166-170, 178-179, 742-746. b: Malory. P. 563-571, 664-672.

22: Introduction to the Silmarillion, by Bettina Sommer.

23: Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Silmarillion: Valaquenta. Allen & Unwin, 1977. P. 25-32.

24: Shippey, Tom: Tolkien and the appeal of the pagan: Edda and Kalevala. In: Jane Chance (ed.): Tolkien and the Invention of Myth. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2004. P. 145-161.

25: Burns, Marjorie J.: Norse and Christian gods: the interactive theology of J.R.R. Tolkien. In: Jane Chance (ed.): Tolkien and the Invention of Myth. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2004. P. 163-178.

26: Grimes, M. Katherine: Harry Potter – Fairy tale prince, Real boy, and Archetypal hero. In: Lana Whited (ed.): The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter. University of Missouri Press, 2004. P. 89-122.

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

 

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