ENGL2381: ARTHURIAN LITERATURE

• Any Single or Joint Honours finalist student wishing to take this Special Topic module must have satisfactorily completed the required number of core modules. Combined Honours and Outside Honours students must have satisfactorily completed either two Level 1 core introductory modules, or at least one Level 1 core module and one further lecture based module in English at Level 2.

• None.

• None.

• To introduce students to a range of Arthurian literature, from medieval to modern, and a range of critical and contextual material.

• This module will focus on the growth and rewriting of the myth of Arthur from the early Middle Ages to the present day, and will explore its enduring power and transformative potential.
• The work of the first term will be rooted in the influential medieval tellings of the Arthurian story, and will examine the origins of Arthur in early Welsh texts, early chronicles such as that of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the adaptation of the Arthurian legends by French and English romance writers.
• The seminar will consider the power of the story both as national history and as fantasy.
• Particular emphasis will be placed on the celebrated versions of Chrtien de Troyes, the Gawain-poet and Malory.
• In the second term, we will examine both late medieval and post-medieval versions of the story and its continuing power.
• Topics considered may include Spenser's use of the Arthurian story as English epic in the Faerie Queene, Shakespeares apparent lack of interest in it, the medievalising of the Romantic poets and the pre-Raphaelites, and, in particular, Tennyson's influential retelling in Idylls of the King, as well as the ways in which the story is used to explore contemporary questions of society, gender, religion, history and fantasy for late nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers such as Mark Twain, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mary Stewart and Philip Reeve.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• expertise in comparative literature from the medieval to the modern period
• knowledge of a substantial number of authors and texts from different periods of literary history
• knowledge of linguistic, literary, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature is written
• knowledge of useful and precise critical terminology
• awareness of the range and variety of approaches to literary study

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students studying this module will develop:
• critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts
• an ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts and critical approaches
• an ability to contextualise and offer critical analysis of texts
• informed awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and ability to offer cogent analysis of their workings in specific texts
• sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects on communication of historical circumstances, and to the affective power of language
• an ability to articulate and substantiate an imaginative response to literature
• an ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary studies
• skills of effective communication and the development of clear and persuasive arguments
• awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographic skills including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation
• command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated

Key Skills:

• Students studying this module will develop:
• a capacity to analyse critically
• an ability to acquire complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way involving the use of distinctive interpretative skills derived from the subject
• competence in the planning and execution of essays
• a capacity for independent thought and judgement, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others
• skills in critical reasoning
• an ability to handle information and argument in a critical manner
• information-technology skills such as word-processing and electronic data access information
• organisation and time-management skills

• Seminars: encourage peer-group discussion, independent thought and judgement, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others; enable students to develop critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts, and skills of effective communication and presentation with appropriate critical vocabulary; promote awareness of awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated, diversity of interpretation and methodology, sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects on communication of historical circumstances.
• Consultation session: encourages students to reflect critically and independently on their work
• Independent but directed reading in preparation for seminars provides opportunity for students to enrich subject-specific knowledge and enhances their ability to develop appropriate subject-specific skills.
• Coursework: tests students' ability to argue, respond and interpret, and to demonstrate subject-specific knowledge and skills such as appreciation of the power of imagination in literary creation and the close reading and analysis of texts; they also test the ability to present word-processed work, observing scholarly conventions. In individual Special Topics, the essay may, where appropriate to the subject, take an alternative form, such as 'creative criticism'.
• Feedback: The written feedback that is provided after the first assessed essay allows students to reflect on examiners' comments, giving students the opportunity to improve their work for the second essay, developing a range of critical skills.

Before the first assessed essay, students have an individual 15 minute consultation session in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a sheet of points relevant to the essay and to receive oral comment on these points. Students may also, if they wish, discuss their ideas for the second essay at this meeting.

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