Maria Tatar, the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and chairwoman of the Forklore and Mythology program at Harvard University, will discuss "The Mysteries of Beauty and Horror in Fairy Tales," at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 in McDaniel Lounge.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call (410) 857-2294.
Tatar's talk will focus on how words act as wands, producing moments of incandescent beauty and spine-chilling horror. The shock effects of beauty and horror draw readers and listeners into radiant worlds that reveal the expressive intensity of mere words.
A well-respected expert on fairy tales and one of the most published authors in that field, Tatar is the author of Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood; Secrets Beyond the Door: The Story of Bluebeard and His Wives; and Off with Their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. She also wrote, The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales; Spellbound: Studies on Mesmerism and Literature; and Lustmord: Sexual Violence in Weimar Germany, which explores the theme of sexual violence in the literature, film, and art of the Weimar period in Germany.
Tatar has edited several anthologies, including Grimms' Grimmest, Never-ending Stories: Toward a Critical Narratology, The Classic Fairy Tales, and the Annotated Hans Christian Andersen.
She has written about the cultural impact of mesmerist theories and practices of 19th- and 20th-century literature and has published articles in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and the Los Angeles Times.
At Harvard, she teaches courses in the areas of folklore, children's literature, and German cultural studies. She served as Dean for the Humanities from 2003-2006.
Tatar earned her Ph.D. and master's degrees from Princeton University, and her bachelor's degree from Denison University.
McDaniel College, a private four-year college of the liberal arts and sciences, was founded in 1867 as Western Maryland College. Students pursue more than 60 programs of study, including dual majors and student-designed majors. The 1,700 undergraduates and 1,300 graduate students receive personal attention and take advantage of leadership opportunities in the close-knit community, where the average class size is 17 and professors are dedicated mentors. The 160-acre campus is located in Westminster, Md., 30 miles northwest of Baltimore and 56 miles north of Washington, D.C.
