When we stop to think about what defines a fable or a folktale, we often neglect to ask one critical question: What does a fable or a folktale do?
This is a question of purpose. And it's a question function. What are these stories intended to accomplish? Why do we tell them?
This course looks directly at the purpose and function of oral literary traditions, providing critical perspectives on what these types of stories do for us as a culture and what they may do for us as individuals.
Course Curriculum
- Aesop's Fables
- Aesop's Fables (Continued)
- Folktales
- "Hansel & Gretel"
- Folktales: Depth, Detail and Moral Complexity
- Folktales: Purpose & Authorship
- "The Woman Who Married the Pine-Tree"
- Test your learning
- The Brothers Grimm Fairytales
- "The Turnip"
- Quiz: "The Turnip"
- Critical Analysis Test: "The Miser in the Bush"
- Purpose of Mythology
- "The Wonderful Rod"
- Mythology Defined
- American Mythology
- Mythology & the Cosmic Order
- Greek Mythology
- Mythology as Cultural Blueprint
- Orpheus & Eurydice
- Archetypes
- Joseph Campbell
- Reflection
- Reading Mythology Broadly
- Ulysses & the Sirens
- The Hero's Journey
- The Hero and Stages of the Journey
- Exploring Some Grey Area: Mythology or Folktale?
Hi I'm Eric Martin. I am a writer and college English instructor.
As a writer, I have always been drawn to traditional story forms and structures (both to utilize in my own creative writing and to break down and study). In publishing fiction, plays and essays I've further developed my interest in the influences of oral traditions and mythology in particular.
As a scholar, I have been closely and critically engaged in exploring the role that literature plays in society.
Why do we tell stories?
This course examines critical perspectives on the purpose and function or oral literature from Native American folktales to Ancient Greek mythology.
What stories do we tell?
This course explores three of the most prominent oral literary traditions: fables, folktales and mythology and breaks down how these genres overlap.
What do our stories tell us?
Oral traditions do much more than entertain. This course explores how storytelling traditions help play a role in defining a culture's identity.