Occurrence | Teaching cycle |
---|---|
A | Autumn Term 2019-20 |
Middle English popular romance is the most audacious and compendious testimony to the imaginary world of the middle ages. With more than 100 extant romances, in verse and prose, it is the principle genre of medieval entertainment, the primary form of secular medieval literature, the origin of the modern novel and the ancestor of almost all contemporary popular fiction. The purpose of this module is to challenge modern scholarships disregard for popular romance and to explore the genres potential to destabilize any simple assumptions we might have about its cultural ideologies, aesthetic codes, and historical consciousness.
Subject content
Academic and graduate skills
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework 4,500 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
None
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework 4,500 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
Written feedback within 6 weeks of essay submission, and within two weeks for re-assessed work.
The most important preliminary work students can do is to read as many romances as possible. Student friendly texts are online at the TEAMS Middle English Texts website (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/tmsmenu.htm). We will read at least: Richard Coeur de Lion, Earl of Tolouse, Octavian, Squire of Lowe Degree, Chevalere Assigne, Le Bone Florence of Rome, Sir Gowther, King of Tars, Sir Degrevant, Eglamour of Artois, Libeaus Desconus, Amis and Amiloun and, for the first seminar, Bevis of Hampton (which you can find here: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/herz.htm).
Useful places to start for critical reading are: