Courses
ENG 396 World Literature: Advanced Topics
Study of works in world literature emphasizing a global context. Examples include The Bildungsroman, Representations of the Artist, The Global Avant-Garde, The Great Novel, and Global Science Fiction.
Distribution Area
Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning
Credits
1 course
Spring Semester information
Amity Reading396A: Advanced Topics: Arthurian Romance
Noble knights, beautiful ladies, and courtly kings... the stories of King Arthur and his Round Table contain many of the images we have come to associate with the high Middle Ages. And the legends are true: Arthurian romances really are some of the greatest pieces of literature produced in pre-modern Europe and the British Isles. In this course, we'll trace the origins of the Arthurian legend from late antique historical documents to high medieval romance to the present day in a series of readings that both introduce students to the Arthurian canon and also frame it within its historical, cultural, and global contexts. We will be reading the greatest of the great: Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'arthur, Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, Knight of the Cart, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the lais of Marie de France, Geoffrey Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale, and Welsh tales from the Mabinogion. In the last weeks of the semester, we will consider present-day medievalism, theoretical interpretations of medieval romance, and the enduring appeal of the Once and Future King. ENG 396/WLIT 315 fulfills the Global Learning requirement and counts toward the World Literature Program. It is also a pre-1660/pre-1830 English course.