Professor of German Roswitha Burwick has taught courses on fairy tales at Scripps College for years. One assignment remains a constant: students write their own fairy tale utilizing the tools and lessons learned in class.
“I was often surprised at the quality of the stories I was receiving,” Burwick explains. “I started collecting them with the idea of doing something like a book.” As students heard about the project, they encouraged her to pursue it; the result is a recent self-published anthology Merry Sorrows (Un)happy Endings: Fairy Tales for Our Time.
Student editors Julie Lapidus ’11 and Jocelyn Price ’11 helped manage the overall goals of the project and the message they wanted to convey. They read over 30 stories, edited them, and commissioned student artists. Throughout the process, students worked with Burwick and writing professor Kimberly Drake to maintain a cohesive theme and voice.
“This experience … has contributed to my sense of self as a well-rounded person,” notes Jocelyn. “It’s one of the most rewarding projects I’ve taken part in here at Scripps.”
“I pushed the students to become professionals,” adds Burwick. “Professional authors, professional artists. We went all the way to make it look great.”
Burwick is also quick to emphasize that this same opportunity is frequently provided through Core III, the final semester of Scripps College’s unique Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Humanities program. Many of the stories were originally produced for Core, with students using Core concepts – innovation and critical and creative thinking – to bring the project to fruition. “Core is close to the heart of this project,” she says.
“You don’t always get the opportunity to collaborate with a professor so closely,” says Julie of her experience. “It’s different than thesis, which is more individual. Student-professor projects like Merry Sorrows are a really unique advantage of attending a smaller liberal arts college like Scripps.”
Would Burwick like to do a second, similar project? Absolutely. “Maybe with critical essays on fairy tales,” she muses.
Merry Sorrows (Un)happy Endings has not been showcased yet, but there are tentative plans for a lunch panel in the Hampton Room during fall semester where the student editors, writers, and artists will be able to discuss their work.