106-038 Medievalism in Contemporary Culture

Usually 12.5 points of first year English.

This subject interrogates the persistent popularity of medieval themes and stories in contemporary film, fiction, and children's literature. It will consider some medieval narratives which inspire a tradition of revisionary re-writing, as well as modern 'inventions' of the medieval in a range of cultural forms. Through a study of the major patterns in the re-invention of medieval literature, students will be encouraged to think about what these texts reveal about the relations of modernity and postmodernity with the medieval past, and the social and political meaning of the medieval in contemporary representations.

• have the ability to develop critical self-awareness and the capacity to shape persuasive arguments;

• have the ability to apply research skills (especially in library and on-line resources) and critical methods to an emerging field of inquiry;

• have the ability to communicate arguments and ideas effectively and articulately, both in writing and in group discussions;

• have achieved detailed readings of a range of texts in different media;

• have the ability to think critically about the relations between academic and popular forms of knowledge of the past.#

Students will have the choice of doing an essay of 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of semester) or an essay of 4000 words 100 (due at the end of semester).

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.

• Seamus Heaney (trans), Beowulf.
• J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury.
• Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur. 2 volumes, Penguin.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon.
• Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice. Macmillan.
• Films:, Shrek, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, A Knight's Tale, Braveheart, Robin Hood.