English 456: C20 Criticism and Theory Annotated Bibliography Sample, by Al Drake Al Drake | Cyber Cafe | Thurs. 4-6 Bogus, Duane. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears: This Binary Opposition is Just Right!" PMLA 132 (2002): 52-75. Bogus offers a straightforwardly deconstructive reading of the eponymous fairy tale. It turns out that Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Baby Bear, not to mention Goldilocks, all perpetuate the infamous binary opposition nature/culture. Bogus argues that although the Brothers Grimm version treats the intrusion of Goldilocks as a rough interference of culture into the placid domain of nature, the Three Bears were always already participants in the realm of culture. This reading will not bear close scrutiny, however, since Bogus himself reinscribes the same sterile oppositions. Glupskaya, Nadezda. "Bears of the World Unite: Alienation and Expropriation in ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.'" Third Rate Publications 17 (1995): 139-56. In this socialist reading, Glupskaya allegorizes the famous fairy tale as a story of capitalist oppression against hard-working proletarians. The worker-bears themselves, explains Glupskaya, are so bound up in the self-isolating ideology of the nuclear family that they sink to offering hospitality to an evil factory-owner's daughter. Although Glupskaya sprinkles her article with updated terms like "interpellation" and "hegemony," the reading goes no further than good old-fashioned vulgar Marxism. Mofo, Dikembe. "Blondie and the Bears: Colonialism in The Brothers Grimm." Post-Colonialisms 25 (1999): 254-83. Professor Mofo of UC Indio nimbly reconstructs "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" as a veiled narrative of colonial exploitation by white Europeans against "non-white others." Mofo lucidly connects the Grimm's tale with other narratives of cultural appropriation such as Shakespeare's The Tempest and Pound's Cantos. However, Mofo's essay is weakened by his insistence that Mama and Papa Bear's actions are tactical instances of incipient nationalism against the oppressor.
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