UiB/InstituttforFremmedspråk
Spring2017
ENG338+338L:“ArthurianLiterature:MedievalandModern”
Tuesdays14:15-16:00(seesyllabusforspecificdates)/HF301
Instructor:LauraSaetveitMiles
[email protected]/HF237b
ThiscoursewillexploreoneofthemostpopularandinfluentialthemesinEnglishliterature:
KingArthurandtheknightsoftheRoundTable.Wewillcoverthefoundationaltextsinthe
MiddleEnglishtradition,SirGawainandtheGreenKnight,theAlliterativeMorted’Arthurand
Malory’sLeMorteDarthur,anddiscussissuesofsexuality,violence,nationalism,andliterary
form.Whilethefourteenth-centurypoemsSirGawainandtheAlliterativeMorteArthure
representthevarietyofpoeticversionsofArthurianlegend,Malorybringsusintotheheight
ofmedievalinterestinArthurinthefifteenthcentury,withhisengagingproseworkamong
theearliestprintedvolumesinEngland,byCaxtonin1485.Thenwewillfast-forwardtosome
ninteenth-andtwentieth-centurypoemsandshortstoriesthatreachbackhundredsofyears
fortheirmaterial:whatchangesbetweenmedievalandmodernArthurianliterature?How
canwelearnaboutthesocialandculturalconcernsofeachperiod,asfilteredthroughtalesof
knightsandladies?Alongsidetheprimarytextswewillreadbothcontextualcriticismonthe
broaderArthuriantraditionaswellascriticismonthetextsthemselves.Becausethemedieval
textswillbereadinmodernization,glossedoriginalMiddleEnglish,orinfacing-page
translation,nopriorMiddleEnglishexperienceisneeded.Optionalfilmnightattheendofthe
semesterwillbeofMontyPythonandtheHolyGrail(1975).
Courseformat:ThecourseisajointENG338(10stp)andENG338L(15stp)course,with
extrareadingsandanextraseminarmeetingfortheLstudents.Lstudentswillalsobe
expectedtomakepresentationsontheirextrareadings.
Examformat:Schoolexam,Tuesday2May,9:00.Forregularstudentstheexamis4hours;
forLstudentstheexamis6hours.
PRIMARYTEXTS
Fourteenth-fifteenthcentury
SirThomasMalory,LeMorteDarthur:TheWinchesterManuscript.Ed.HelenCooper.Oxford
andNewYork:OxfordUniv.Press,1998.ISBN:978-0-19-953734-1[buyat
Akademika]
SirGawainandtheGreenKnight.Ed.JamesWinny.Broadview,1992[facingpagetranslation].
ISBN:0-921149-92-1[buyatAkademika]
Nineteenthcentury
AlfredLordTennyson,“TheLadyofShalott”(1833)[poem]
http://tinyurl.com/h2qhzpz(ProQuestLiteratureOnlinevialibrarysubscription) AlfredLordTennyson,“SirGalahad”(1834)[poem]
http://tinyurl.com/hnr5rtr(ProQuestLiteratureOnlinevialibrarysubscription)
ElizabethStuartPhelps,“TheLadyofShalott”(1879)[shortstory]
http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/phelps-lady-of-shalott
ElizabethStuartPhelps,“TheChristmasofSirGalahad”(1871)[shortstory]
http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/phelps-christmas-of-sir-galahad
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Twentiethcentury
WendyM.Mnookin,“GuenevereSpeaks”(1987)[poem]
ValerieNiemanColander,“TheNamingoftheLost”(1989)[poem]
Bothpp.476-488inModernArthurianLiterature:AnAnthologyofEnglishand
AmericanArthurianafromtheRenaissancetothePresent,ed.AlanLupack.Routledge,
1992.
[bothavailableviaLitteraturkiosk]
SECONDARYTEXTS
ElizabethArchibaldandAdPutter,eds.TheCambridgeCompaniontoArthurianLegend.
Cambridge,2009.[hereafterCCAL]
https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521860598
CarolynDinshaw.“AKissisJustaKiss:HeterosexualityandItsConsolationsinSirGawainand
theGreenKnight.”Diacritics24:1994,205-226.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/465173
LaurieA.FinkeandMartinB.Schichtman,“NoPain,NoGain:ViolenceasSymbolicCapitalin
Malory’sMorted’Arthur.”Arthuriana8:1998,115-134.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27869341
JenniferA.Gehrman,“‘Iamhalf-sickofshadows’:ElizabethStuartPhelps’sLadiesofShalott.”
Legacy14:1997,123-136.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25679230
CarlPlasa,“CrackedfromSidetoSide’:SexualPoliticsin‘TheLadyofShalott.’”Victorian
Poetry30:1992,247-263.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40002467
TisonPugh,“Queermedievalisms.”InTheCambridgeCompaniontoMedievalism,196-209.
EditedbyLouiseD’Arcens.Cambridge,2016.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781316091708.015
TisonPughandAngelaJaneWeisl,“Medievalisms:TheMagicoftheMiddleAges.”In
Medievalisms:MakingthePastPresent,1-11.Routledge,2013.[availablevia
Litteraturkiosk]
AdditionalrequiredtextsfortheLstudents(optionalforregularstudents)
Ø RickGodden,“Prostheticecologies:vulnerablebodiesandthedismodernsubjectin
SirGawainandtheGreenKnight.”TextualPractice30(2016):1273-1290.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2016.1229910
Ø StanzaicMorteArthur,Part3(lines2770-3965)in
KingArthur’sDeath:TheMiddleEnglishStanzaicMorteArthurandAlliterature
MorteArthure.Ed.LarryD.BensonandEdwardE.Foster.Rochester:Universityof
Rochester,TEAMS,1994.
http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/benson-and-foster-king-arthurs-deathstanzaic-morte-arthur-part-iii
Ø AlfredLordTennyson,“TheLadyofShalott”(1833+1842versions)[poem]
http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/tennyson-shalott-comparison
Ø AlfredLordTennyson,“Epic,includingTheMorteD’Arthur”(1842)[poem]
http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/tennyson-epic
Ø ElizabethStuartPhelps,“TheTrueStoryofGuenever”(1876)[shortstory]
http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/phelps-true-story-of-guenever
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