Self-Referential Features in Sacred Texts

This thesis examines a specific type of instance that bridges the divide between seeing sacred texts as merely vehicles for content and as objects themselves: self-reference. Doing so yielded a heuristic system of categories of self-reference in sacred texts based on the way the text self-describes: Inlibration, Necessity, and Untranslatability. I provide examples of these self-referential features as found in various sacred texts: the Vedas, Āgamas, Papyrus of Ani, Torah, Quran, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and the Book of Mormon. I then examine how different theories of sacredness interact with them. What do Durkheim, Otto, Freud, or Levinas say about these? How are their theories changed when confronted with sacred texts as objects as well as containers for content? I conclude by asserting that these self-referential features can be seen as ‘self-sacralizing’ in that they: match understandings of sacredness, speak for themselves, and do not occur in mundane texts

"We Are What We Are Supposed to Be": The Brothers Grimm as Fictional Representations

This article examines how the Brothers Grimm are fictionalized in German and Anglo-American media. While some representations revere and romanticize the iconic brothers for preserving the fairy-tale tradition, other depictions challenge the conventional understanding of their work and cultural contribution. In these demythologizing depictions, the Grimms appear ambiguous and even demonic. In recent representations, however, the Grimms—and their heirs—have been recast in positive roles that are both problematic and revealing. The persistent resurrection of the Grimms and the diverse roles they have been asked to play offer insight into the search for cultural myths, meaning, and identity

Children, War, and the Imaginative Space of Fairy Tales

Explores how children of war and adults reflecting on their violent wartime childhoods have had recourse to the space of fairy tales to interpret their traumatic physical environments and their emotional lives within them. To that end, the article (1) considers the nature of time and space in the classic fairy tale; (2) establishes how the ambiguity of fairy-tale spaces creates an imaginative geography that lends itself to the representation and mapping of wartime experience; and (3) uses examples from autobiographical accounts that show how fairy tales have been used to comprehend and to take emotional control over the war-torn landscape of childhood

Kiss and Tell : Orality, Narrative, and the Power of Words in “ Sleeping Beauty ”

The metafictional nature of the Sleeping Beauty tale has gone largely unappreciated. Underlying the story’s obvious themes and motifs – birth, death/sleep, rebirth – and complicating its gender dynamic is a preoccupation with orality and telling that gives the story a significant self-reflective dimension. This article examines how the tale reflects on storytelling and the medium of its telling, not only in the classical versions by Perrault and Grimm, but also in the Roman de Perceforest and Disney’s animated film.La dimension métafictionnelle du conte de la Belle au bois dormant a été largement ignorée jusqu’ici. Sous-tendant les thèmes et motifs caractéristiques de cette histoire – comme la naissance, la mort/le sommeil, la renaissance – et compliquant la dynamique de genre qui lie les personnages masculins et féminins, on décèle une tension entre oralité et écriture qui confère à ce conte une dimension auto-réflexive très significative. Cet article examine comment l’activité et la manière de raconter une histoire sont représentées non seulement dans les versions classiques de Perrault et de Grimm, mais aussi dans le Roman de Perceforest qui les inspire et, au XXe siècle, dans le dessin animé de Disney

Yours, Mine, or Ours? Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and the Ownership of Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are often described in proprietary terms. Because the myth of their origin among the anonymous folk is so strong, the general tendency in both popular and scholarly discourse is to conceive of fairy tales as either the common property of all humanity or the treasures of specific cultures, nations, or ethnic groups. Since the publication of the Grimms' collection and the advent of copyrights laws, the idea of fairy tales as unique, protected individual possessions has emerged. This essays explores the implications these views have on the utilization of fairy tales and proposes a view of ownership that relies on the autonomy of individual reception

Homiletics

Homiletics

Quantifying the Grimm Corpus: Transgressive and Transformative Bodies in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales

What do bodies mean in fairy tales? Donald Haase’s engagement with the Grimms’ fairy tales has offered some hints, ranging from his attention to feminist scholarship on the Grimms to his multifaceted review of recent Grimm scholarship that addresses various meanings of bodies in the language and translation of their tales. Inspired by Haase’s work and encouragement, I created a database that lists every mention or description of a body in the Grimms’ tales and in five other European tale collections. I detailed the results of this quantitative investigation in my dissertation, generally treating all the tale collections as part of one large corpus. In this essay, however, to add to the conversation that Haase has generated and curated, I refilter the data to solely examine which body parts (nouns, adjectives, and actions) appear in the Grimm tales. A major thematic focus is transgression and transformation, especially their gendered dimensions