ENGL 320-01, Arthurian Literature, Fall 2005

Abstract

Scholar D.S Brewer has written that Arthurian literature is “perhaps the largest single body of imaginative literature that the world has known.” But Arthurian legend is not simply a story involving recurring characters; it is a collection of ideas, attitudes, desires and problems which, as they are told and re-told, seem to take on larger ideological significance. This course will examine the most enduring legends of King Arthur from their origins in medieval literature to contemporary retellings. We will read texts from the twelfth century through the twentieth, and explore the elements of the legend that changed or persisted as the stories were retold and rewritten for different times. In the process, we will explore why this tradition has been so enduring, as well as how mythology works – what it is, and what it does – so that, by the end of this course, you should at the very least be able to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail with full appreciation and get all the jokes.