ENGL 20223 - The Book of Monsters: Monstrosity and Metamorphosis in Medieval Literature

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

Cyclopes, blemmyae, giants, women with the tails of lions, fairies, Chthulu-like beings from the chaotic abyss: these creatures and many more occupied the margins of human geography for centuries. In ancient thought, monsters were not merely fantastical creations, but existed as important ways of talking about humans and their society: despite their distance - living as they did in India, Africa, the depths of the sea or the burial mound, sometimes even on the moon - monsters and marvelous beings have been intimately involved with Western understandings of what it means to be a human being. While we will consider a few major works such as Beowulf and Shakespeare's The Tempest, we will also look at stories of werewolves in Norse saga and French romance, madmen, Biblical and apocryphal tales of monsters and fallen angels, classical and medieval "travelogues" (including voyages to outer space), and other sources to acquire an understanding of the historical and cultural contexts that make medieval texts different from - and yet similar to - our own. Secondary critical readings will help students toward a sense of the many different issues at play in the primary works, from historical context to more in-depth considerations of gender, geography, and race.

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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