Fractured Fairy Tales: A New View on Old Lessons

This the second discussion in a two-part Lit Webinar that explores archetypal patterns with a new view on old lessons. In March, Little Red Riding-Hood was the featured tale. The May discussion addresses 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. 

May 22nd

The second fairy tale is “Blue Beard,” by Charles Perrault. It will be followed by Luisa Valenzuela’s story “La llave” in Spanish, or “The Key” in its English translation.

If Luisa Valenzuela is in BA, she may be our guest! 

Readings to be discussed are linked below.

Charles Perrault:

https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault03.html

“La llave”, Luisa Valenzuela:  https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-llave-932121/html/58928daf-ae8c-498a-ace1-a14000f55281_2.html

The Lit Webinar meeting will take place in Recoleta and on Zoom. Please RSVP to gwendolyndz@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.