| Course Title: Topics in Medieval Studies: 'Beowulf, Gawain, Ishiguro: Medieval Mythmaking and the Idea of Britain' |
| Start Date: 01/23/2024 End Date: 05/07/2024 |
| Term: Spring Semester 2024 |
| Description: This course explores early-medieval English literature that focuses on migration, cultural and religious inter-mixing, and histories of invasion and conquest. We'll read early-English literature to study its frameworks of historiography and its imperial interests, the mythologies behind early-English identities, the culture of English learning, and the afterlives of invasion. Course readings will include modern English translations of Beowulf, the works of Gildas and Bede, and selections from post-Conquest history and Arthuriana. With the semester's worth of knowledge about early-English history and literary production, we'll spend the final weeks of the course reading Kazuo Ishiguro's novel The Buried Giant. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities , SI - Speaking-Intensive , WI - Writing-Intensive , TP - Topics Course |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Wesley Yu | 413-538-2825 | wyu@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 01/23/2024 - 05/07/2024 | Seminar | Monday and Wednesday | 01:45PM - 03:00PM | SHTK - Shattuck Hall | 217 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| Prereq: ENGL-199 and 4 additional credits in the English department. | Take previously | Required |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Meets the English department's legacy pre-1700 requirement. |
| Course Tags | ||
| ENGL0001 | ENGL-HP: Literary History and Period | This course has been approved to count towards the English major's Literary History and Period Disciplinary Perspectives requirement. |
| MEDST0001 | MEDST: Medieval Studies major | This course has been approved to count towards the Medieval Studies major and/or minor. |
| MEDST0001 | MEDST: Medieval Studies minor | This course has been approved to count towards the Medieval Studies major and/or minor. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 18 | Enrollment: 17 | Available: 1 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Ecclesiastical History of the English People Author: Bede, Copyright: 1990 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780140445657 Publisher: Penguin |
Required | 14.99 |
| Title: Beowulf (RM Liuzza translation) Author: , Copyright: Edition: Volume: ISBN: 1554810647 Publisher: Broadview |
Required | 16.50 |
| Title: History of the Kings of Britain Author: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Copyright: Edition: Volume: ISBN: 0140441700 Publisher: |
Required | 11.50 |
| Title: The Buried Giant Author: Ishiguro, Kazuo Copyright: 2016 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780307455796 Publisher: Vintage Books |
Required | 14.99 |
| Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Author: , Copyright: 2021 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780393532463 Publisher: Norton Critical Editions |
Required | 20.00 |
| Title: Perceval: The Story of the Grail Author: de Troyes, Chrétien Copyright: 1999 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780300075861 Publisher: Yale UP |
Required | 29.95 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |
| Copies are on order at Please order online. |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: Please place your orders individually online. |