ENGL4925: Advanced Topic Seminar: Literary Approaches to the Past
Eric Weiskott
Spring 2015, W 4:30-6:55
Office hours: M 2:00-3:00 (Stokes S407)
This course is a study of literary narratives set in the distant past, spanning 500 years of literary
history. Questions to be addressed include: Of what use is the past to the present? Is anachronism
always an error? Does the meaning of the past change over time? We consider why an array of
writers, including Thomas Malory, William Shakespeare, and Mark Twain, chose to tell tales of
long ago. Some course texts in Middle English; no prior knowledge of Middle English required.
REQUIRED TEXTS (available at the BC Bookstore)
Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, ed. Stephen H. A. Shepherd (Norton, 2004)
The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript, ed. Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron (Exeter, 2007)
William Shakespeare, Henry IV (Part 1), ed. Claire McEachern (Penguin Classics, 2000)
William Shakespeare, King Lear, ed. Stephen Orgel (Penguin Classics, 1999)
Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, ed. Ian Duncan (Oxford, 2010)
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, ed. Allison R. Ensor (Norton, 1982)
SCHEDULE
Why the past?
Jan 14
Introduction
Caxton, “Prologue” and “Epilogue” to Malory’s Morte Darthur
Heroes and strangers: Arthurian romance
(Jan 20)
*Discussions post 1 due on Canvas
Jan 21
Malory, Morte Darthur, pp. 3-40: “How Uther Pendragon. . .”
Morse, “Back to the Future” (excerpt)
(Jan 26)
*Discussions post 2 (response) due on Canvas
Feb 4
Morte Darthur, pp. 588-645: “Launcelot and Gwenyvere”
Morte Darthur, pp. 646-98: “The Deth of Arthur”
(Feb 9)
*Discussions post 3 due on Canvas
Feb 11
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fitt 1 (ll. 1-490)
Turville-Petre, “The Brutus Prologue to SGGK”
Feb 17
Joint ATS evening meeting (6:00pm: location TBA)
Feb 18
SGGK, Fitt 2 (ll. 491-1125)
Chism, “Alliterative Romance” (excerpt)
“Eric’s One-Page Guide to Alliterative Meter”
Workshop on Middle English alliterative meter
(Feb 23)
*Discussions post 4 (translation and commentary) due on Canvas
Feb 25
SGGK, Fitt 3 (ll. 1126-1997)
(March 9)
*Annotation assignment via Genius (genius.com/search?q=gawain)
March 11
SGGK, Fitt 4 (ll. 1998-2530)
Hanna, “Unlocking What’s Locked”
ATS Literary Approaches 2
Saints and pagans: Christian romance
March 18
Chaucer, Man of Law’s Tale
*Introductory meter assignment: “A Slumber Did my Spirit Seal” and
“Jabberwocky” on For Better for Verse (prosody.lib.virginia.edu)
Kolve, “The Rudderless Ship and the Sea” (excerpt)
*Word study due (2-5 pp.)
(March 23) *Discussions post 5 due on Canvas
March 25
St. Erkenwald
Otter, “‘New Werke’”
History, chronicle, tragedy: The birth of medievalism?
(March 30) *Discussions post 6 due on Canvas
April 1
Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV
*Intermediate meter assignment: “Ozymandias” on For Better for Verse
Shakespeare, King Lear
O’Connell, “King Lear and the Summons of Death”
Romantic medievalism and its discontents
(April 7)
*Discussions post 7 due on Canvas
April 8
Scott, Ivanhoe, Chs. 1-15: Ashby
Simmons, “The Influence of Ivanhoe” (excerpt)
April 15
Ivanhoe, Chs. 16-31: Torquilstone
Ivanhoe, Chs. 32-44: Templestowe
Paper planning exercise
(April 21)
*Discussions post 8 due on Canvas
April 22
Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Williams, “The Use of History in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee”
(in Connecticut Yankee, ed. Ensor)
April 29
Burns Library visit
*Paper draft due (5-20 pp.)
May 6
*Paper due (15-20 pp.)
GRADING
Annotation and meter assignments 10%
Discussions posts 15%
Oral presentation (to be scheduled), 5-15 min. + handout and/or Page on Canvas 20%
Paper, 15-20 pp. 35%
Participation 10%
Word study, 2-5 pp. 10%
ASSIGNMENTS
The Discussions posts, due on Mondays (or Tuesday after a university holiday), should reflect
your initial reactions to the course material. They can, but need not, articulate an argument about
the material. Discussions post 4 is a more in-depth translation and exposition of one stanza from
Fitts 1 or 2 of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. For the annotation assignment, you will create a
username on Genius and contribute ten annotations to the Middle English text of Sir Gawain and
ATS Literary Approaches 3
the Green Knight. For the meter assignments, you will explore meter using the interface on For
Better For Verse. The word study is a literary, lexicographical, and/or linguistic analysis of any
single word that has appeared in a course text so far. The paper is an article-length research
project that engages with prior scholarship and argues for its point of view in detail. Each student
will also prepare one oral presentation (to be scheduled) of 5-15 minutes, supported by a handout
and/or a dedicated Page on Canvas.
JOINT MEETING
On the evening of Tuesday, February 17 (location TBA), we will join the other two spring
Advanced Topic Seminars for food and an informal discussion about literary history in the field
of English studies. Please keep your calendars free for this event.
OBJECTIVES
In this course, you will become familiar with a variety of genres of writing over 500 years of
literary history, and you will engage with a cluster of perennially important questions in literary
studies: How and why do authors imagine the past? What does it mean to express an
anachronism in literature, projecting contemporary concerns into history? How can we
contextualize historical literature that is itself ancient today? Is the past knowable, and is the
literature of the past a good way to get to know it? Along the way, you will also acquire reading
proficiency in the Middle English language.
PARTICIPATION
Students are expected to attend each class having completed the assigned reading. Students
should come to class prepared to actively discuss the language and rhetoric of the assigned texts.
This is a discussion-based class, and you will not need laptops or smart phones.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Boston College places great value on academic integrity
(bc.edu/schools/cas/polisci/integrity.html). I have a zero tolerance policy for intentional
plagiarism. All quotations or paraphrases of sources must be cited parenthetically or in a footnote
(examples: libguides.bc.edu/c.php?g=44446&p=281300).
ACCESSIBILITY
If you are a student with a documented disability seeking reasonable accommodations in this
course, please contact Kathy Duggan, (617) 552-8093, at the Connors Family
Learning Center regarding learning disabilities, or Paulette Durrett, (617) 552-3470, in
the Disability Services Office regarding all other types of disabilities.