Medieval and Renaissance Romance EN1021

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1 Medieval and Renaissance Romance EN1021 Dr Brendan O Connell (co-ordinator), Dr Ema Vyroubalová Dr Mark Faulkner This course considers one of the most enduring genres in European literature as it developed through the Middle Ages and the early modern period. We will explore the historical factors affecting the development of Romance (from the Norman invasion and the Wars of the Roses to the Protestant Reformation), identify some of the genre s major motifs (the noble hero, the quest, the supernatural challenge), and consider some of its recurring themes (the nature of heroism, personal and communal identities, and the power and danger of romantic love). Lecture Schedule: Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4: Week 5: Week 6: Week 7: Week 8: Week 9: Week 10: Week 11: Week 12: Introduction (BOC) The Anglo-Norman Background: The Romance of Horn and the early Middle English King Horn (MF) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (BOC) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (BOC) Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight s Tale (BOC) Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight s Tale (BOC) Study Week Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur (BOC) Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur (BOC) 1

2 General: A thorough introduction to the development and main motifs of romance can be found in Helen Cooper, The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare (Oxford, 2004). A briefer introduction can be found in Gail Ashton, Medieval English Romance in Context (London, 2010). Students interested in the Romance mode more generally will find interesting studies in A Companion to Romance From Classical to Contemporary, ed. Corinne Saunders (Oxford, 2004). The Romance of Horn and the early Middle English King Horn The lecture in Week Two looks at the earliest romances written in England, romances written not in English but in Anglo-Norman French, the language of the new elites who arrived in England in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of It focuses on one such romance, King Horn, a story of love and heroism set against a pan-european backdrop, initially composed in Anglo-Norman by one Thomas in the late twelfth century, then translated into English by an anonymous English poet around a century later. Examining the relationship between the two texts enables us to tease out some of the similarities and differences between English romances and their earlier predecessors. Students will be directed to the text of the Anglo-Norman Romance of Horn at the start of the module, and a secondary reading list will also be provided. The text of the Middle English King Horn can be found in Four Romances of England: King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Bevis of Hampton, Athelston, ed. by Ronald B. Herzman, Graham Drake and Eve Salisbury (Kalamazoo, 1997), which can be found online at: Anon., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 2

3 The recommended edition is: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, ed. by J.J. Anderson (London, 1996). This edition is widely available online from second-hand booksellers or Amazon. Students are encouraged to read the text in the original Middle English, but if you would prefer to read a translation, we recommend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Simon Armitage (London, 2009). J.A. Burrow, A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (London, 1977) Ad Putter, An Introduction to the Gawain -poet (London, 1998) Chaucer: The Knight s Tale The standard scholarly edition is The Riverside Chaucer, gen. ed. Larry D. Benson, rev. with introduction by Christopher Cannon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). The Riverside is expensive, though Single Honors students who will study Chaucer on other modules may find it better value in the long run. There are copies in the library, or you may wish to consider the excellent Norton Critical Edition of The Canterbury Tales: Fifteen Tales and the General Prologue, ed. V.A. Kolve and Glending Olson (New York, 2005). Students are encouraged to read the tale in the original Middle English in one of these editions. Many students, however, prefer to read in a modernised edition, such as The Canterbury Tales, trans. David Wright, with introduction and notes by Christopher Cannon (Oxford, 2011). Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, 2 nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp Alastair Minnis, Chaucer and Pagan Antiquity (Cambridge, 1982) 3

4 Elizabeth Salter, Chaucer and Boccaccio: The Knight s Tale, in Malcolm Andrew (ed.), Critical Essays on Chaucer s Canterbury Tales (Milton Keynes, 1991), Malory, Le Morte Darthur The recommended text is: Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, A Norton Critical Edition, ed. Stephen H.A. Shepherd (New York, 2004). This edition contains a number of useful sources and critical essays and represents good value for money. Also acceptable, and quite widely available, is Malory, Works, ed. Eugene Vinaver (Oxford, 1971). For this course, we will be studying the final two books: The Tale of Sir Launcelot and Quene Gwenyvere and The Deth of Arthur. Elizabeth Archibald and A.S.G. Edwards (eds), A Companion to Malory (Cambridge, 1996). C. David Benson, The Ending of the Morte Darthur, in Archibald and Edwards (eds), A Companion to Malory, pp Larry, D. Benson, Malory s Morte Darthur (Cambridge MA, 1977). Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I: The prescribed text is The Faerie Queene (Penguin Classics), eds. Thomas Roche and Patrick O'Donnell (London, 2003). Biography Gary Waller, Spenser: A Literary Life (Basingstoke, 1994). General A.C. Hamilton ed., The Spenser Encyclopedia (London, 1990). G. Logan & G. Teskey, eds., Unfolded Tales : Essays on Renaissance Romance (London, 1989). Patricia Parker, Inescapable Romance (Princeton, 1979). John N. King, Spenser's Poetry and the Reformation Tradition (Princeton, 1990). 4

5 Richard Helgerson, Self-Crowned Laureates: Spenser, Jonson, Milton and the Literary System (Berkeley, 1983). Louis Adrian Montrose: 'The Elizabethan Subject and the Spenserian Text', in Literary Theory/ Renaissance Texts ed. Patricia Parker and David Quint (Baltimore, 1986), pp William A. Oram, Spenser's Audiences, , Studies in Philology (2003). Allegory I. G. MacCaffrey, Spenser's Allegory: the Anatomy of Imagination (Princeton, 1976). Maureen Quilligan, The Language of Allegory (Ithaca, 1979). Theology/Reformation Andrew Hadfield, Spenser And Religion-Yet Again, SEL, Studies in English Literature, 51.1 (2011) pp Anthea Hume, Edmund Spenser, Protestant Poet (Cambridge, 1984). Book I Harry Beger, Jr. Archimago between Text and Countertext SEL: Studies in English Literature, 43.1 (2003), pp Virgil K. Whitaker, 'The Theological Structure of The Faerie Queene, Book I', in A.C. Hamilton ed., Essential Articles for the Study of Edmund Spenser (Hamden, 1972). Judith Anderson, 'Redcrosse and the Descent into Hell', ELH 36.3 (1969):

The coming of Arthur: King Arthur in Text and Image

The coming of Arthur: King Arthur in Text and Image Start date 10 April 2015 End date 12 April 2015 Venue Madingley Hall Madingley Cambridge Tutor Dr Victoria Condie Course code 1415NRX118 Director of