Christine Hoffmann

“Allegories for Boldness” challenges students to conduct a literary investigation of boldness primarily through a survey of the Bluebeard folktale—a story retold from the fifteenth century to present in forms as varied as fiction, poetry, music and film. With the perplexing original moral warning readers to “Be bold, be bold … be not too bold,” the course will enable students to engage in broader conversations about the entanglements of folklore and history, making connections between the arts and today’s world. Students will ultimately compose their own adaptation of the tale.