Fractured Fairy Tales: A New View on Old Lessons
This is the first of a four-part Lit Webinar series to explore archetypal patterns with a new view on old lessons. The fairy tales to be discussed over the first two meetings are Little Red Riding-Hood and Blue Beard.
Why did Little Red Riding-Hood listen to the Wolf? Should Bluebeard’s wife have used the key to open the forbidden door? What world did Sleeping Beauty wake into once the prince kissed her?
This year’s Lit Webinar series will delve into the idea of archetypes, those patterns of behavior that according to Carl Jung populate our unconscious psyche in an attempt to explain an unexplainable world. Archetypes surface in literature, art-work, religious narratives, myths and dreams. Fairy tales, of course, are excellent sources of archetypes. We will look at original fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault and compare them to recent versions of the same tales re-written by contemporary authors with a twist of the often-questionable original morals.
March 20th
In the first meeting, we will focus on “Red-Riding-Hood,” both by the Brothers Grimm and the Charles Perrault version. The tale is paired with Luisa Valenzuela’s “Si esto es vida yo soy caperucita roja.” Valenzuela’s story may be read in the Spanish original or in the English translation from her book, Symmetries.
Readings to be discussed are linked below.
Bros Grimm: https://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/little_red_cap
Charles Perault: https://core.ecu.edu/parillek/littleredcinder.pdf (includes Cinderella & Rumpelstilskin)
“Si esto es vida yo soy Caperucita roja”, Luisa Valenzuela https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/si-esto-es-la-vida-yo-soy-caperucita-roja-932117/html/f60c0960-6abf-42d3-8e07-5d748507c6af_2.htmlhere.
The Lit Webinar meeting will take place in Recoleta and on Zoom. In-person seating is limited. Zoom attendance is open to all who wish to attend. Please let us know if you will attend in person or online. Please RSVP to gwendolyndz@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.