Storytelling 2500-EN_F_66

We will be discussing both the universal and culture-specific values of
myths and legends, the way they are portrayed by modern humanities.
That could be quite useful in our “global village”. Students will gain
experience in looking for structures and tropes in several types of
narratives. We will define the desirable traits of a hero, an antagonist, a
superhero, as well as his/hers limitations. We will talk about creating
one’s own autobiography, the ‘inner voices’ of polyphonic personality, the
need for artificial reality during life span, and the positive role of narrative
when one has to deal with an inexplicable experience. We will also
mention the therapeutic aspect of folk tales and bed-time stories.

In order to pass the course, Student needs to collect more than 40 points.

Grading policy:
< 40 points = Fail (2)
40-43 3
44-49 3.5
50-59 4
60-69 4.5
70-75 5

Points will be given for:
Final test (a “multiple-choice-single-answer” type + 3 open questions),
graded 0-60 points.
Providing a myth or a legend for class-discussion: 0-10 points.
Writing a fairytale/bed-time story: 0-5 points.

Attendance rules
Students are allowed two unexcused absences and up to two additional
absences in case of formal excuse. More absences will result in failing the
course.

Weekly meetings would be dedicated to following topics:

1. Basic definitions: storytelling and storytellers, myth, epic story, folk
tale, fairy tale, fable, adage, auto-narration, polyphony of personality,
subjective reality, mythos, logos, flow.
Malinowski, B. (1954). Magic, science and religion and other essays.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., Chapter 13. "Myth in primitive
psychology," pp. 176-184.
Excerpts from: Levi-Strauss, C. The structural study of myth and totemism.
Reprinted in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 68, No. 270. Myth: A
Symposium (Oct. - Dec. 1955), pp. 428-444.

2. Functions and types of myths. Myths about the beginnings of the
world, creating human beings, dividing the world between the “good” vs
“evil” forces, establishing ethnical differences, creating a script for future
moral judgement, explaining features of physical environment, changing
of seasons. Students will be encouraged to find and provide the texts of
myths that originated in the regions of their homeland. Homework:
choosing a myth to be presented and discussed during next two classes.

3. and 4. Universal patterns in myths. What is cross-cultural and what
could be culture-specific? Students will present their findings. That could
lead to more in-depth understanding of the similarities and differences
between cultures. Homework: reading excerpts from the works of M.
Eliade and J. Campbell.
Campbell, J. (2004). A hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.
Eliade, M. (2005). The myth of the eternal return: cosmos and history.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Haviland, W. A. (2000). Anthropology. Harcourt Collage Publishers.
Chapter on Verbal arts, pages 728-735

5. Universal types of characters in an epic story. What makes a hero the
hero? Which features are described, which are omitted in a myth, a fairy
tale, a superhero movie? Discussing the works of J. Campbell. Homework:
Students will be encouraged to search for similarities between heroes in
several types of discourse, from ancient stories to modern narratives. Do
the heroes develop their personality or do they have to stay unchanged?
Helpful source: web site “TV tropes”.

6. We will discuss the tropes we have found and ask ourselves about the
needs that are addressed by a given work of art. Homework: reading
excerpts from Propp, W. (1928). Morphology of the folk tale, translated by
The American Folklore Society and Indiana University in 1968.
Introduction, chapter II, pp. 1-45.

7. Why is the narration of a fairy-tale so repetitive? The findings of W.
Propp. Essays of Umberto Eco and the construction of James Bond
character.

8. and 9. Students will analyse the construction of narratives found in
recent pop-culture (mainly Marvel and DC movies). What do we expect?
Why are we glad not to be surprised by the ending of a superhero movie?

10. Stories about group identity. Grand narratives of the culture. Religious
texts, legends about national heroes. What purpose do they serve in
creating the group identity? Which tools can be used to make a research
on that? Homework: reading the works of Roland Barthes. The most
welcomed would be ‘An introduction to the structural analysis of
narrative’, which could be found in New Literary History, Vol. 6, No. 2, On
Narrative and Narratives, (Winter, 1975), pp. 237-272, published by The
Johns Hopkins University Press. Also extracts from McLean, K.C. (2016).
The co-authored self: family stories and the construction of personal
identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

11. Stories as cultural patterns. Which types of anecdotes and parables
are the most popular in modern “global village”? Which are
stereotypically connected with a given culture? What is lost in
translation? Students will reflect on the probable reasons for limited
diversity and the popularity of chosen modern authors. Homework:
reading excerpts of Csikszentmihalyi M. (2014). Flow and the foundations
of positive psychology: the collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Springer.

12. Stories of individual experience. Both grand narrations and popculture
are reflected in an individual. How do they coordinate our
believes, choices and actions? We will discuss the need to participate in
several forms of artificial reality as well as the notions of “flow”, “logos”,
“mythos” and “polyphony of personality”. Homework: reading the works
of J. Bruner, J. Pennebaker, R. Fiviush & C.A. Haden.
Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry,
Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-21.
Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a
therapeutic process. Psychological Science, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 162-166.
Pennebaker, J. W., Seagal, J. D., (1999). Forming a story: The health
benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 55(10), pp. 1243–
1254.
Fivush, R., Haden, C.A. (2013). Autobiographical memory and the
construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives.
New York, NY: Psychology Press. (extracts)

13. Stories and the needs of adults. According to Bruner and his followers,
we can re-live our private experience and gain a new perspective on what
had happened to us only by describing the events and feelings with
words. It’s no wonder, that psychotherapy takes a form of a dialogue.
Throughout an auto-narration we point to causes and effects, we choose
interpretations and finally come to an understanding that we see as
satisfactory. Therefore, narration is one of the basic tools of a mind. We
should focus our attention on the works of Jerome Bruner, James
Pennebaker and Milton Ericson. Homework: reading excerpts from the
works of Bruno Bettelhaim and Doris Brett (provided by me).

14. Stories and the needs of children. It is believed that listening to bedtime
stories plays an important role in children’s wellbeing. We will
discuss the works of Bettelhaim and Brett, who advocated the use of fairy
tales in children’s therapy. Students will be asked to write their own
version of such a story.

15. Final test

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

• Description of 2500-EN_F_66 in USOSweb