ERIC Number: EJ1297480
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1756-1221
EISSN: N/A
Fairy Tales and the Transmission of Prejudice
Helfer, Martha B.
Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, v54 n1 p74-87 Spr 2021
"Fairy Tales and the Transmission of Prejudice" is a unit in a lecture course on fairy tales that draws on research on anti-Semitism in 18th- and 19th-century German literature and culture, mapping questions raised in 18th- and 19th-century tales onto contemporary issues: The unit traces a trajectory from the Enlightenment to the present, and from Germany to the United States, analyzing a variety of texts, including Lessing's drama "Nathan the Wise" (1779), the three Grimms' tales about Jews -- "The Clear Sun Will Bring it to Light" (1815), "The Jew in Thorns" (1815), and "The Good Bargain" (1819) --, Spiegelman's graphic Holocaust narrative "Maus" (1980), and Sendak's illustrations for Wilhelm Grimm's "Dear Mili" (Grimm & Sendak, 1988). This article outlines the course, its background, and how the texts and their contexts are implemented in class. Throughout the course unit, the discussion of anti-Semitism in the fairy tales is broadened to one of prejudice in general. The article concludes with a brief discussion of student reactions to this unit.
Descriptors: Fairy Tales, Units of Study, Racial Bias, German Literature, Course Descriptions, Jews, Death, European History, Student Attitudes, Discussion (Teaching Technique), Cartoons, Novels, History, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A