Dreams are an integral part of culture, appearing in mythology, fairy tale, poetry, fiction, film, and other forms of storytelling.  A "dream" may be a sleep narrative, nightmare, vision, social construct (such as "the American dream") or even a wish for personal or societal action.  We'll explore the following issues:  As readers, how do we approach dream instances?  How do we recognize and react to elements of the dream as text?  How do dreams intersect with memory, autobiography, prophecy, and creativity?   How do concepts of dreaming shape our perceptions of text, self, and world?

Texts:

"Christabel," Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Winter Dreams," F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The Wishing Box" and "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams," Sylvia Plath
"Master Misery," Truman Capote
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
selections from Dreams and Inward Journeys, ed. Marjorie Ford and Jon Ford

The Rapture
Nightmare on Elm Street
The Wizard of Oz

Th 4/2
"Responding to Reading" (56-58)
Truman Capote, "Master Misery" (on reserve)
Sylvia Plath, "The Wishing Box" (on reserve)
 

Week Three:  Myths and Fairy Tales

T  4/7
Introduction (165-166)
 Joseph Campbell, "The Four Functions of Mythology" (170-174)
"A Portfolio of Creation Myths" (191-195)
Ovid, "The Creation" (on reserve)

Th 4/9
Bruno Bettelheim, "Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament" (199-204)
Brothers Grimm, "Aschenputtel" (205-210)
"The Algonquin Cinderella" (210-212)
 

Week Four:  Nightmares and Obsessions

T 4/14
Introduction (223-225)
Galvin & Hartmann, "Nightmares: Terrors of the Night" (228-237)
Sylvia Plath, "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams" (on reserve)
Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart" (274-277)

Th 4/16
  Nightmare on Elm Street (write a review to include in your portfolio)
Essay One due
 

Week Five:  The Double/The Other

T 4/21
Introduction (361-362)
M. Von Franz, "The Realization of the Shadow in Dreams" (367-370)
Hans Christian Andersen, "The Shadow" (371-380)

Th 4/23
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel" (on reserve)
 

Week Six:  Case Study

T 4/28
Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace

Th 4/30
Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace
 

Week Seven:  Dreams of Vision and Prophecy

T 5/5
Introduction (496-497)
William Blake, "The Tyger" (498-499)
Linda Hogan, "The Voyagers" (523-527)

Th 5/7
The Rapture (write a review to include in your portfolio)
Essay Two due
 

Week Eight:  Society's Dreams

T 5/14
Introduction (426-428)
 Terry McMillan, "The Wizard of Oz" (441-449)
Frank Baum, "The Magic Art of the Great Humbug" (450-457)
begin   The Wizard of Oz

Th 5/16
  The Wizard of Oz (write a review to include in your portfolio)
 

Week Nine:  Society's Dreams

T 5/19
F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Winter Dreams" (on reserve)
Amanda Morgan, "When Beauty is the Beast" (483-489)

Th 5/21
Umberto Eco, "The City of Robots" (473-479)
 

Week Ten:  Endings

T 5/26         Portfolio Workshop: bring all materials and 2 copies of your revised essay

Th 5/28       Portfolios due with self-addressed 9x12 envelope and postage