Witches: Crone or Wise Woman? Archetypal Perspectives in Literature and the Arts (050330-SoSe21)

Witches: Crone or Wise Woman? Archetypal Perspectives in Literature and the Arts  Module: V2, V3

This seminar will begin with a study of Jungian archetypes and focus on the representation of witches in literature, painting, and music. Students will become familiar not only with the traditions associated with the witch figure, but will explore the portrayal of the feminine through archetypes. Themes such as magic, the witches’ Sabbath, the “femme fatale”, and the wise women will be addressed. Through our study, students will also gain expertise in cross-disciplinary analysis. Figures such as Circe, Hecate, Morgan le Fay, Baba Yaga as well as witches from Grimms’ Fairy tales and Disney will be considered. Our central text will be Michelet’s La Sorcière (Die Hexe, 1862). We will trace the various archetypes. their meanings, and their representations in literature, music, and painting in works from Romanticism (Goya, Keats, Goethe, Berlioz) and the later nineteenth century (Michelet, Mussorgsky, Pre-Raphaelites) and witness the extent to which the witch figure is revamped in the modern period (Bulgakov, Miller, Pratchett). Works studied include: Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique (1830), Modest Mussorgsky, “Pictures at an Exhibition” (1874), John Keats, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” (1819), Jules Michelet, La Sorcière (Die Hexe, 1862), Arthur Miller, The Crucible (1953) and Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters (1988) or The Wee Free Men (2003), and possibly Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1994). Excerpts from William Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606-07), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust (1808), and Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (Der Meister und Margarita, 1928-1940, published. 1967/69) will also be read. Students will be required to prepare 1-2 short presentations and complete short writing assignments in English to improve their written expression and facilitate discussion. Regular attendance is encouraged. Discussion will be in English, and term papers may be written in English or in German.