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I'm Jackie, a junior French major at Bryn Mawr, but I have devoted just as much (if not more) of my studies here on the pre-med curriculum in hopes of continuing to dental school. I chose French as my major because it applies to my life an interests in ways that I already know and that I'm continuing to discover. It has added a sense of balance to my life and gets me thinking 'out of the box,' which I hope to do in this course as well! Both of my parents are in the medical field, I always preferred math and science courses in school, and I tend to accept the stories that scientific discoveries/phenomena tell as the basis of my personal reality. As a Catholic who attended Catholic high school, my mind has long been opened to alternative realities, and I find it fascinating to study these sorts of things. When I was in France this summer, immersed in French culture, I was constantly noticing cultural differences, and thus constantly reflected on myself and my own values (and the values of the American culture). I was forever amazed at how much I learned about myself, the basis of my beliefs/behaviors, and perhaps humanity as well... just by keeping an open mind. I see the same potential in this class to deepen my understanding of how I understand things! So here were my questions:

1) What tools will we use to determine how stories evolve?

2). What will we be defining as a story in the first place...fiction, biography, mystery, fairy tales, narratives?

3). Do Darwin's works represent a turning point in storytelling, or is their role less significant to literature than it appears to be in scientific fields?