quiz 3 cl fantasy

Oral tradition

Stories transmitted over centuries from one person to another by mouth; no writing involved.

Feudalism

europe during middle ages. monarchy. king gives land to lords, peasants work under lords.

Fairytales were perpetuated by what social class?

Peasant class

Fairytales reflected what of the peasant class?

Fairytales reflected the inner wishes of the peasant class. Characters (think Cinderella) jump from being peasants to nobility.

High Fantasy

Stories set in imaginative world. (Oz, Middle Earth, etc.)

Low Fantasy

Set in our world; has fantasy elements interjected.

Most fairytales are what kind of fantasy?

Low fantasy

Anthropomorphism

attributing human characteristics or form to non-human entities

Rationalism

Opposed fairytales, thought they were a waste of time

• Brought people back to feudalistic times

What English philosopher opposed fairytales? What did he believe about children?

John Locke; children are born “blank”

Puritans thought __

Children were born evil.

Puss in Boots

• A miller’s son dies, the youngest of three sons gets a talking cat

• The cat, Puss, retrieves several pieces of game for the King

• The King’s daughter sees the son—“Lord Marquis of Carabas”—and wants to ride with him

• They ride around; Puss says all the land belongs to Lord Marquis, including a grand castle ruled by an ogre

• Puss tricks the ogre to turn into a mouse, then eats it

• Seeing that Lord Marquis owns the castle, the King happily marries his daughter off to him

John Newbery

• First publisher of children’s books in England

• Published didactic (moral) books

• “Goody goody two shoes”: book that backfired because readers that being a “goody two shoes” was annoying

Romantics __ fairytales?

Enjoyed. They wanted to save them from rationalistic thinking.

• This is what caused people to start writing down fairytales

Marie Catherine D’Aulnoy

• The Yellow Dwarf

- Longer than typical fairytales, detailed

- Were intended for people who could read (aka the rich)

Charles Perrault

- Interested in peasants’ fairytales; took folk tales and published them

Grimm Brothers

- Wrote down hundreds of fairytales, published them

- Did more than anyone else to save fairytales

Andrew Lang

• Blue Fairy Book (Saved fairytales from rationalists)

Named the books from colors, 12 in total

• Stories were from all over the world, started with European fairytales

Nonsense Literature

• Suspension of Belief: Enables audiences to overlook unrealistic aspects of narratives (fantastical characters, improbable events) for the sake of the story

- Knowing a cat can’t talk but still following along with the story like they do

Fairytales don’t follow ___ stories just as dreams don’t follow ___. They follow a loose association, the unconscious mind. 

Cause and effect; a logical orderly pattern.

All forms of nonsense literature have ___

Dreamlike quality

What is the most common form of nonsense literature?

Nonsense poetry; it’s more manageable than an entire novel.

What type of writing with vague origins can also be considered nonsense literature?

Nursery Rhymes (ex: Hey Diddle Diddle)

Edward Lear

• Youngest of 21 children

• Mother was sick of kids, gave Edward to her sister

- Edward thought of his aunt as his mother even though he kept in contact with his real mother

• Was good at drawing

• Had epilepsy

- Was not understood during this century; people thought seizures were the devil’s possession

• Edward would put marks in his journal; they signified the seizures he had each day

• Was hired to draw pictures of physicians while they were doing autopsies

• Would go to the zoo to draw pictures; zoologists noticed. They hired Edward to draw pictures of the birds—was his first professional job

• Edward spent four years drawing an older man’s menagerie (collection of animals)

• The man’s grandkids loved Edward; Edward drew and wrote nonsense poetry (limerick, a five-line poem) for them

What was Edward Lear’s most famous nonsense poem?

The Owl and the Pussycat.

What book were Edward Lear’s limericks published in?

The Book of Nonsense.

What type of nonsense poems did Edward Lear write?

Limericks: five-line poems

• First, second, and fifth line rhyme

• Third and fourth line rhyme

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written by who?

Lewis Carroll

What was Lewis Carroll’s real name?

Charles Dodgson

What is the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

Through the Looking Glass.

What is Jabberwocky? Who wrote it?

• Nonsense poem; first published in Through the Looking Glass

• Lewis Caroll

• About a hero who defeats a creature called the “Jabberwock” with a vorpal sword; it emphasizes courage over fear

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

• Was very close to sisters

• Sisters never got married; was able to buy a house for them with money he made from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

• Father was a minister; pushed this on Lewis

• Lewis was a genius at recreational math, but had a problem with a stutter tied to anxiety and pressure

• Playing with his sisters made him more comfortable with girls

• Went to boarding school, then to Oxford University

• Alice Liddell inspired him to write Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

What college inside of Oxford did Lewis Carroll attend?

Christ Church College

• Same college his father went to 

• Was hired to be a professor at Christ Church College

• Lived on campus for the rest of his life, dean—Henry Liddell—lived next door

What did Henry Liddell, the dean next door, do for Lewis Carroll’s stutter to disappear?

• Invited him over 

• Lewis was like a big brother to his daughters

• One day they were on a boating trip, Lewis made up a story to entertain the girls—was closest to one named Alice

• When he got home, he wrote down the story, gifted it to the family

What was Lewis Carroll’s story he gifted to the Liddells originally called?

• Alice’s Adventures Underground

• Not didactic

• Funny, for children

Alice in Wonderland is first set where?

The real world

• Alice is with her big sister and falls asleep

• Association between dreams and the real world

What is high fantasy? What’s the other name for it?

Stories that take place in another world; Portal Fantasy.

Quest stories…

Tend to follow the steps of going on a quest or going forth on a journey.

• Going forth to slay a dragon

• Finding the holy grail (if you drink from the Holy Grail, you’re granted everlasting life)

Who was A Hero with a Thousand Faces written by?

Joseph Campbell

A Hero with a Thousand Faces was a…

Monomyth: one story with lots of variations

• Main character gets sent on a quest

• Is tested and challenged

• Go from being someone not many pay attention to a hero

• Monomyths are quest stories that intercept with high fantasy stories

J. R. R. Tolkien

• Born in South Africa, moved to England

• Wrote the Hobbit, a children’s book, as a literature professor from Oxford

• Took the quest story tradition and combined high fantasy

• Flipped quest stories on their heads; the quest objects are already found

• All-male cast of characters

What is J. R. R. Tolkien’s most famous book? Which one launched his career?

• The Lord of the Rings

• The Hobbit

What are the sequels to the Lord of the Rings?

Return of the King; The Two Towers

What was the first fantasy book that sent a woman on a quest?

The Wizard of Oz

Who wrote The Wizard of Oz?

L. Frank Baum

What did Lyman Frank Baum go by instead of his original name?

L. Frank Baum; he didn’t like “Lyman”

L. Frank Baum

• Daydreamed too much; father sent him to a military academy, L. Frank Baum hated it

• Father bought him a printing press, gave newspapers to neighborhood

• Raised chickens

What happens when Alice falls “Down the Rabbit Hole”?

• Finds a hallway lined with doors, cries a pool of tears because she can’t fit through the door

• Discovers a bottle labeled “DRINK ME”; drinks it and shrinks, but cannot enter the door because the key is too large

• Finds a cake labeled “EAT ME”, eats it and grows so large she destroys the house

• Alice cries and shrinks, then swims through her pool of tears

• Meets a mouse

• They swim to shore, meet other animals and have a “caucus race”—everyone wins

• Alice scares the animals away by speaking of her cat Dinah and is alone again

The White Rabbit’s house and the Caterpillar

• Alice encounters the White Rabbit again, who mistakes her for his maid, Mary Ann, and orders her to fetch his gloves and fan from his house.

• Inside, she finds another bottle and drinks from it, growing so large she fills the entire room, her arms and legs sticking out of the windows and doors.

• The Rabbit and his animal friends try to remove her by throwing pebbles through the window, which magically transform into little cakes.

• Eating one causes Alice to shrink rapidly, allowing her to escape the house and wander into the forest.

• There, she meets a blue Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah. He speaks in riddles and questions Alice’s identity.

• Their conversation is frustrating and circular, but before crawling away, the Caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her grow and the other will make her shrink.

• Alice experiments with the mushroom, first growing so tall her neck stretches into the treetops, alarming a pigeon who mistakes her for a serpent.

• She then eats the other side and returns to a more manageable size.

The Duchess’s House and the Cheshire Cat

• Alice comes upon a house and enters to find the Duchess nursing a baby while a Cook hurls pepper into a cauldron, filling the room with sneezes.

• The Duchess is rude and erratic, and the baby squeals constantly. When Alice takes the baby to protect it, she discovers it has turned into a pig and lets it go.

• Outside, she meets the Cheshire Cat perched in a tree. He grins broadly and explains that everyone in Wonderland is mad—including himself and Alice.

• The Cat gives her cryptic directions to visit either the March Hare or the Mad Hatter, then slowly vanishes, leaving only his grin behind.

The Mad Tea Party and the Return to the Garden

• Alice visits the March Hare’s house and finds him, the Mad Hatter, and the sleepy Dormouse having a perpetual tea party.

• The trio is absurd and rude, speaking in riddles and nonsensical logic. They explain that Time has stopped for them, trapping them in endless tea-time.

• The Hatter tells a story about a trial involving Time, and the Dormouse dozes off repeatedly while telling a tale about three sisters who lived in a treacle well.

• Frustrated by their nonsense and lack of manners, Alice leaves the tea party.

• She finds a tree with a door in its trunk, enters it, and returns to the hallway with the locked doors.

• This time, she uses the key and a piece of mushroom to shrink to the right size and finally enters the beautiful garden.

Croquet with the Queen of Hearts

• In the garden, Alice finds three playing-card gardeners painting white roses red to avoid the Queen of Hearts’ wrath.

• The Queen arrives with her court and immediately demands the gardeners’ heads for their mistake.

• Alice intervenes to protect them and is invited to play a bizarre game of croquet.

• The game is chaotic: flamingos serve as mallets, hedgehogs as balls, and the Queen constantly shouts “Off with their heads!” at anyone who displeases her.

• Alice encounters the Cheshire Cat again, who floats in midair and chats with her.

• The King of Hearts tries to assert authority over the Cat, but the Cat mocks him.

• The King orders the Cat’s execution, but since the Cat is only a floating head, no one can figure out how to behead it.

The Mock Turtle’s Tale

• The Duchess reappears and tries to befriend Alice, speaking in moralistic platitudes that make Alice uncomfortable.

• The Queen returns and sends Alice to meet the Mock Turtle, accompanied by the Gryphon.

• The Mock Turtle is melancholic and nostalgic, telling Alice about his school days and the strange subjects he studied, like “Reeling” and “Ambition.”

• He and the Gryphon perform a dance called the Lobster Quadrille and encourage Alice to join in.

• They are interrupted by a call to attend a trial, and the Gryphon rushes Alice back to the Queen’s court.

The Trial of the Knave of Hearts + Alice’s Awakening

• The Knave of Hearts is on trial for allegedly stealing the Queen’s tarts.

• The King of Hearts presides over the trial, which quickly devolves into absurdity.

• Witnesses include the Mad Hatter, who is nervous and nonsensical, and the Cook, who only talks about pepper.

• The White Rabbit presents a mysterious letter, supposedly written by the Knave, which turns out to be a nonsensical poem.

• The King interprets the poem as a confession, but Alice challenges this, calling it nonsense.

• The Queen becomes enraged and demands Alice’s execution.

• Alice, now growing larger again, refuses to be intimidated and knocks over the Queen’s army of playing cards.

• Just as the cards fly at her, Alice wakes up to find herself lying on her sister’s lap by the riverbank.

• She realizes it was all a dream and tells her sister about the strange adventure.

• Alice goes inside for tea, while her sister remains, reflecting on the curious and whimsical world Alice described.

L. Frank Baum’s first book was what?

The Book of the Hamburgs

L. Frank Baum wanted to own his own what?

Theater

• Father bought him one

• L. Frank Baum wrote a play, starred in it and designed costumes

• Father underwrote the whole play

Who was L. Frank Baum’s wife? Who was she the daughter of?

Maud Gage; daughter of Matilda Gage, a feminist who fought with Susan B. Anthony for the right to vote. Matilda was religious and thought that organized religion was wrong

Maud Gage went to what school?

Cornell

• One of the first colleges to accept women

She and L. Frank Baum fell in love and decided to get married, but Matilda objected, calling him a worthless actor

• Maud Gage and L. Frank Baum move to Aberdeen, South Dakota and have four kids

• Open a store called “Baum’s Bazaar”

What did L. Frank Baum sell at Baum’s Bazaar?

• Prairie things

• Coo-coo clocks that no one bought

Family eventually moved to Chicago, got a job selling window displays and eventually started a magazine

What stories did L. Frank Baum send to publishers after telling them to his sons?

• Mother Goose in Prose

• Father Goose

Who did L. Frank Baum become friends with that illustrated for his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?

W. W. Denslow

• He and W. W. Denslow paid for the illustrations

• Books got purchaesed by MGM, got made into a movie

What book is considered to be one of the most feminist children’s books?

The Wonderful Wizard of OZ