English 243, Fantasy, Myth, and Legend, is a course in the literature which in recent years has come to be called The Fantastic. It includes works from mythology, traditional fantasy, science fiction, and magic realism. In the course we study themes such as Initiation, the Quest, and the Devil Figure, along with archetypes and motifs of The Fantastic in world literature. Works studied include Homer's Odyssey, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Milton's Paradise Lost, Shakespeare's Hamlet, as well as Star Trek, Stoker's Dracula, Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," and lesser known works both ancient and contemporary. The course includes vampires, ghosties, ghoulies, and things that go bump in the night, as well as Native American legends, urban legends, and world classics. Students do a term project in which they apply the themes of the course to a contemporary novel, film, piece of music, television series, etc., demonstrating that they have understood the themes of the course and can apply them to works not covered in class.
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