Classics & YA Fantasy 1

Young adult fantasy is a mixed bag of greatness and garbage. It includes beloved authors like Lewis, MacDonald, and Tolkien, controversial stories like those of J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and Suzanne Collins, and pulpy moral vacuums from the likes of Sarah J. Maas, Ally Condie, and Kiera Cass. As fantasy, however, all these works have something in common: classical inspiration. Theseus and the minotaur stand behind the Hunger Games; the Faerie Queene haunts the wilds of Patricia McKillip, Holly Black, and Diana Wynne-Jones; Shakespeare and Tristan and Dracula are all taken for granted in the Twilight series; Harry Potter and Ashtown Burials are both brimming with allusions to Greek and medieval stories. This course provides students with a moral and technical guide to some recent YA authors by introducing a theme using a classical work (magic/fairyland, fate, star-crossed lovers, the anti-hero, dystopia, animal allegory) and illustrating inferior and superior treatments of that theme in related YA titles. The first semester focuses largely on Greek influences, and the second on Medieval and later, though there is some overlap.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand the important themes of each classical work
2. Discuss how well each YA title integrated/used the pertinent themes
3. Provide intelligent commentary on the moral/technical failings or achievements of each YA title

Texts:

• The Library, by Apollodorus (online version)
• Theogony, by Hesiod (online version)
• The Game, by Diana Wynne Jones
• The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
• The Marriage of Cupid & Psyche, by Apuleius (online version)
• East of the Sun, West of the Moon, collected by Asbjornsen & Moe (online version)
• Beauty and the Beast, by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont (online version)
• Beauty, by Robin McKinley
• Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis
• Theseus, by Plutarch (online version)
• The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
• The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. LeGuin
• The Oresteia, by Aeschylus
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling
• The Dragon’s Tooth, by N. D. Wilson
• The Winter King, by Christine Cohen

Course Trailer: