A writing-intensive seminar course for 12 students. Course material included:
Key texts for the reception of Classical myth for children
Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fable
Edith Hamilton, Mythology
Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
Texts which helped us to see how the stage was set before Hawthorne and Bulfinch
selections from William Goodwin (published under the name Edward Baldwin), The Pantheon
selections from Samuel Griswold Goodrich, A Book of Mythology for Youth
selections from Charles Anthon, A Classical Dictionary (since Hawthorne used Anthon’s work as a reference)
As a class we also looked at
selected illustrations for the Wonder Book, both the original illustrations and later ones
treatments of Norse mythology by Hamilton and the D’Aulaires (to compare/contrast with their treatments of Greek myth)
Guy Billout, Thunderbolt & Rainbow
Dugald Steer et al., Mythology (in the Ology series)
the version of the Hyacinthus story in George Percival Brown, Poems for Children Based on the Greek Myths
the retelling of the Tereus, Procne, and Philomela story in Lilian Stoughton Hyde, Favorite Greek Myths
the presentation of the Arethusa story in Ann Turnbull (author) and Sarah Young (illustrator), Greek Myths
Each student also developed a presentation that drew on other anthologies of myth; the pool of anthologies available to the students represented work across the decades since the publication of Hawthorne’s Wonder Book:
M. Helen Beckwith, In Mythland
Elsie Finnimore Buckley (author), Frank C. Papé (illustrator), Children of the Dawn: Old Tales of Greece
George W. Cox, A Manual of Mythology in the Form of Question and Answer
Bernard Evslin, Dorothy Evslin, and Ned Hoopes (authors), William Hunter (illustrator), The Greek Gods
Robert Graves, Greek Gods and Heroes
Roger Lancelyn Green (author), Ernest H. Shepard (illustrator), Old Greek Fairy Tales
W. M. L. Hutchinson, The Golden Porch: A Book of Greek Fairy Tales
Eric A. Kimmel (author), Pep Montserrat (illustrator), The McElderry Book of Greek Myths
Charles Kingsley, The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales for My Children
William F. Russell, Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology
Jeanne Steig (author), William Steig (illustrator), A Gift from Zeus: Sixteen Favorite Myths
Laurence and Irene Swinburne, Ancient Myths: The First Science Fiction
Robert Penn Warren (author), William Moyers (illustrator), The Gods of Mount Olympus
Anne Terry White (author), Alice and Martin Provensen (illustrators), The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends
Marcia Williams, Greek Myths
And a reference work useful throughout the course:
Edward Tripp, The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology