ENGL 240 - Arthurian Legend

FDR: HL Literature Distribution
Credits: 3

Prerequisite: completion of FDR:FW requirement. Why does King Arthur continue to fascinate and haunt our cultural imagination? This course surveys the origins and histories of Arthurian literature, beginning with Celtic myths, Welsh tales, and Latin chronicles. We then examine medieval French and English traditions that include Chretien de Troyes’ Perceval, the lais of Marie de France, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. In addition to historical and literary contexts, we explore theoretical issues surrounding the texts, especially the relationship between history and fantasy, courtly love and adultery, erotic love and madness, romance and chivalry, gender and agency, and Europe and its Others. Finally, we investigate Arthurian medievalisms in Victorian England and in American (post)modernity through Tennyson, Twain, Barthelme, and Ishiguro. Along the way, we view various film adaptations of Arthurian legends. All texts are read in modern English translation.