ENG 349-01 - Medieval Literature (Fall)

4 credits (Fall)

Trojans at the Round Table: Writing English Empire in the Middle Ages. Medieval narratives of the Trojan War and the reign of King Arthur help comprise the Matter of Britain, which is a body of literature that explores England’s place in the world as England attempts to define itself as a new nation. This course will consider the rise of English nationalism and the discourse of imperial ambition in medieval texts that present England’s mythological Trojan ancestry and the legendary tales of King Arthur and his knights. Throughout the semester, we will read theoretical and critical essays about nationalism and empire that will provide context for our primary texts, which may include Virgil’s Aeneid, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, French and English Arthurian romances, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde.

Prerequisite: ENG 223 .
Instructor: Arner