CLT / ENG 204 Arthurian Legend

Nancy Mason Bradbury

MW 2:40-4

"Arthur, the good king of Britain , whose knighthood teaches us courage and courtesy, held court at Carlisle , in Wales , on the holy day of Pentecost." When the twelfth-century French poet Chré tien de Troyes began his Yvain with these words, the legend of King Arthur had already persisted in oral tradition through centuries of cultural change. In the Middle Ages, tales of Arthur and his knights were composed in all the languages of Europe , and new narratives in new genres continue to appear, as recently as last summer's attempt at a "blockbuster" film, King Arthur . This course will explore why Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Gawain, Morgan le Fay, Merlin, and other great Arthurian figures have proved so enduring and so adaptable. It is designed as an introduction to Arthurian legend and does not require prior experience with medieval literature. Students will learn about literary genre through encounters with the two great narrative precursors to the novel-epic and romance-and will develop the ability to read literature in relation to its literary, social, and historical contexts.

We will begin with the historical and archaeological evidence for the existence of a Welsh warrior chief whose deeds may have given rise to the earliest forms of the legend, and we will ask what motivates the search for the origins of what is essentially a fiction. From legendary history and epic, we will move to the flowering of Arthurian romance, observing how "courtesy" takes its place beside "courage" as an Arthurian virtue and how the bedchamber begins to rival the battlefield as a testing ground for young knights. Each writer has his or her own designs in retelling an Arthurian tale, and we will try to understand how each new version remakes the legend to serve new purposes and new audiences. Readings will include Geoffrey of Monmouth, Lawman's Brut , the romances of Chrétien, the Breton lais of Marie de France, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale and its Arthurian analogues, Malory's Morte Darthur , and a selection of more recent Arthurian texts, possibly to include works by Tennyson, William Morris, and Mark Twain, as well as two films.

This Comparative Literature course is dual-listed in English and counts toward the English major as a course prior to 1832. Requirements: regular attendance, weekly short writings, two papers, and a final examination.