106-414 Medieval Representations

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

106-255/355 Medievalism in Contemporary Culture or 106-210/310 Medieval English Literature or 106-229/329 Medieval Women's Narrative or equivalent

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject examines various forms of representation in medieval writing, focusing on questions of knowledge, sexuality and subjectivity. A range of medieval texts (romances, dream and vision literature, fabliaux, autobiographical narratives, travel narratives) will be read through contemporary critical and methodological debates in medieval studies. Special attention will be paid to the historical origins, in English, of "authorship" and cultural authority, and to the political and psychoanalytical implications of the so-called "alterity" of medieval culture.

Assessment

Written work of not more than 6000 words.

Prescribed Texts

Course reader available from the department.

• L D Benson ed et al, The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd ed OUP.
• Chretien de Troyes trans. W Kibler and C Carroll, Arthurian Romances. Penguin.