Studies in Medieval Literature (324-0-20)
Topic
Pagan & Christian in Medieval Literature
Instructors
Barbara Newman
847/491-5679
University Hall 215
Meeting Info
Annenberg Hall G01: Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
Medieval culture was overwhelmingly Christian, but it was heir to several pre-Christian religions. Germanic paganism brought monsters, defiant heroism, and expectation of a coming "twilight of the gods," while Celtic paganism supplied magical objects and mysterious Otherworld visitors. Contrary to popular belief, the Church did not suppress the use of pagan sources, but medieval writers transformed the materials they inherited, producing sophisticated texts that present a Christian point of view layered above tantalizing and elusive pagan subtexts. In this class we'll look at (1) the Old English world of Beowulf with an apocalyptic novel based on it, Maria Dahvana Headley's The Mere Wife; (2) three tales about magical shape-shifting characters: Marie de France's Yonec, The Wife of Bath's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and (3) the romance of the Holy Grail—a Celtic magical cauldron that evolved into a prized Christian relic. The class may also include film adaptations such as the comedy classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), and David Lowery's imaginative retelling of The Green Knight (2021).
Class Materials (Required)
Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney (Norton Critical Edition, 2002) - ISBN 978-0-393-97580-2
Beowulf, trans. Maria Dahvana Headley (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020) - ISBN 978-0-374-11003-1
Maria Dahvana Headley, The Mere Wife (Picador paperback) - ISBN 978-1-250-21494-2
Marie de France, Yonec, trans. Claire Waters (on Canvas)
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Tale (on Canvas)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Marie Borroff, ed. Laura Howes (Second Norton Critical Edition, 2021)- ISBN 978-0-393-53246-3
Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline (U. of Georgia Press, 1985) - ISBN 978-0-8203-0812-9
Robert de Boron, Merlin and the Grail, trans. Nigel Bryant (D. S. Brewer, 2001) - ISBN 978-0-85991-779-7
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area