The Denison University Provost Alumni Scholar Series will host Maria Tatar to discuss "Storytelling and Survival: Bedtime Reading from Scheherazade to Peter Pan." This convocation, set for 11:30 a.m. on Thursday (Feb. 21) in Slayter Auditorium, is free and open to the public. Tartar, a 1967 graduate of Denison, is now the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University.

Tatar earned her doctoral (1971) and master's (1969) degrees from Princeton University and has taught at Harvard since then. Her teaching and research interests include Weimar Germany, folklore, German romanticism, children's literature, Brothers Grimm, fairy tales, and the cultural impact of mesmerist theories and practices of 19th and 20th century literature.

Tatar has authored or edited eight books, includingLustmord, which explores the theme of sexual violence in the literature, film, and art of the Weimar period in Germany. Among her other books areThe Hard Facts of the Grimm's Fairy Tales, Off with Their Heads!andThe Classic Fairy Tales. She has edited an anthology of fairy tales published as a Norton Critical Edition and has had numerous articles published in both United States and international publications including the New York Times, German Quarterly, and Children's Literature Association Quarterly. Tatar currently is at work on a book about the Bluebeard tale.

The Denison Provost Alumni Scholar Series celebrates a long history of scholarly accomplishments by both its faculty and alumni. Denison graduates have served as examples of intellectual life as a vocation for its undergraduates over the years and today more than 600 Denison alumni are working in higher education, continuing Denison's tradition of scholarly excellence. Alumni scholars from a variety of disciplines are selected each year to return to campus and deliver a convocation address, take part in classes, and meet informally with Denison students. Their presence here enriches Denison's academic program, honors their professional accomplishments, and serves as a continuing reminder of the quality of Denison's liberal arts education.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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Barbara Stambaugh

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(740) 587-8575