Topics in Medieval Literature
Class Information
Instructor: Connally, Kenneth
CRN: 32434
Time: TR 1:40-3:00
Location: 1150 Hart
GE Areas: World Cultures Writing Experience
Description
The English language first emerged in the medieval period, so medieval texts necessarily laid the foundation for all later English literature. However, the dominant attitudes towards the Middle Ages and its literatures in later periods have varied according to changing aesthetic, political, and cultural values, ranging from wistful nostalgia to utter repugnance. For writers of the Enlightenment, the Middle Ages often represented a "dark age" of superstition and barbarism against which they defined modernity, whereas the Romantics found much to admire in what they perceived as the unrestrained creativity of medieval poetry and prose. More recently, postmodern authors have used the playful remixing of classic medieval tales as a way of questioning the baseline assumptions of Western culture. In this course, we will combine an introduction to English literature of the Middle Ages with an interrogation of its reception from the Renaissance to today by reading a series of medieval texts alongside modern adaptations, retellings, and remixes.
Grading
Quizzes: 10%
Midterm: 10%
Final Exam: 15%
Short Essays: 15%
Term Paper: 30%
Discussion Section Participation: 20%
Texts
Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)
Grendel, John Gardner
Pericles, Prince of Tyre, William Shakespeare