ENGL 20219 - Heroic Quests in Early British Literature

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

Stories of questing knights and unending, heroic landscapes have enjoyed popularity in recent film versions of The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and even Beowulf. This course will explore the foundations of the heroic quest narrative in early British literature, focusing in particular on the transformations of the epic and romance genres in Medieval and Renaissance literature. What ties heroic tales to a given nation or culture? How do stories of knights, ladies, monsters, and faeries become vehicles for other ideas, such as religion, sex, and politics? And what happens when these stories become reimagined in early "modern" genres of drama, satire, and the novel? We will approach these questions by considering the epic ideal of the English warrior hero, and then follow it through the wanderings of the poetry, prose, and drama of Chaucer, Malory, Spenser, Shakespeare, and others. While we will spend the majority of our time on earlier British literature, we will consider, in class discussions and student presentations, contemporary versions and film representations of English epic and romance.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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