Celtic Myth & YA Fantasy

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 Twilight; 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. They are given the tools to analyze the mechanical skills (or lack thereof) demonstrated in a book’s plot structure, character development, and dialogue, and are then equipped with critical thinking skills to assess a book’s moral value as well. By introducing a classical work, illustrating its parallels with and departures from Scriptural stories and worldview, and demonstrating its influence on selected YA authors and books, this course hopes to illuminate not only the debt modern fantasy owes to the Great Books, but also inspire students to read fiction with spiritual and rational intelligence.

The first semester focuses largely on Greek influences, and the second on Celtic, though there is some overlap; the first semester is not a prerequisite for the second.

Course Objectives:

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

1. Understand the important themes of each classical work and compare them to Scripture
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:

• Selections from the Irish Ulster Cycle and Lebor Gabala Erenn (handout)

• The Hounds of the Morrigan, by Pat O'Shea

• Beowulf, trans. by Frederick Rebsamen

• Sky in the Deep, by Adrienne Young

• The Edge on the Sword, by Rebecca Tingle

• Selections from The Mabinogion, trans. by Lady Charlotte Guest (handout)

• The Owl Service, by Alan Garner

• The Black Cauldron, by Lloyd Alexander

• Tristan and Iseult (online version)

• Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare (online version)

• Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer

• The Ballad of Tam Lin/The Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer (handout)

• Winter Rose, by Patricia McKillip

• Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones

• The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper