ENGL 459: Love and Death: The Tristan Tradition
Course Calendar, Spring, 2016
 Aubrey Beardsley, How Sir Tristram Drank of the Love Drink (1893)

Class meetings: T/Th 2-4, Rm. 14-251 
Office: 47-35G, tel. 756-2636
Office Hours: TR 8:10-9:00 AM, W 10:10 AM-12:00 PM, and by appt.		 Woman Reader (engraving) Dr. Debora B. Schwartz 
e-mail: dschwart@calpoly.edu
Main English Office:  756-2597

NOTE:  This Calendar of Assignments is intended to be consulted online rather than printed out; specific assignments are subject to change.
 
 
Week  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10   Oral Presentation Schedule

NOTE 1: Assigned readings should be completed prior to class on the date where they appear on this calendar of assignments.

NOTE 2: Some required readings will be accessed electronically.  They are in one of the following forms:

NOTE 3: This calendar is subject to change.  You are advised to consult it on-line and/or to print out only one day's or week's assignment at a time.  Please remember that the on-line calendar, not any print-out you make, is authoritative.  Check weekly to ensure you are completing the correct assignment, as instructions may change or be added.

Week 1  (March 29 - 31)
 
Day 1 INTRODUCTION to ENGL 459: course organization, requirements and expectations; Overview of Readings (sign-up for research topics at our next class meeting).

Also, because sign-ups for Oral Presentations will begin at our second class meeting, you are advised to read through the Oral Presentation Guidelines and have a look at the Schedule of Oral Presentations.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

  • Read completely through the "top layer" of the class homepage (no need to follow links). YOU ARE EXPECTED TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OUTLINED ON THIS SITE.
REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
  • Joseph Bédier, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult (1900).  Ideally, you should have received the email I sent out last quarter and have completed this reading prior to our first class meeting.  Otherwise, it is added to your reading assignment for our second class meeting.
TEXT INFO:  Joseph Bédier based this modern French retelling of the Tristan stories (1900) on extensive comparison of the extant medieval source material; he sought in this way to recreate the lost "original" text (but in fact created a distinctly 20th-century narrative).  Translated into modern English by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld.

(Please note that you are responsible for all information listed as "TEXT INFO" or "FILM INFO" on the course calendar for your midterm exam -- and on reading quizzes, if I should need to reinstate them!)
 
Day 2 UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY (Cesar Chavez Day) -- NO CLASS

HOMEWORK to be completed before our second class meeting:
  • if you have not already done so, read COMPLETELY through the "top layer" of the Online Syllabus (class homepage) and familiarize yourself with this calendar of assignments. 
  • Decide on on several research topics/dates when you might like to present in class (sign-ups begin at 2nd class meeting). 
  • Prepare Day 2 required readings (below). 
TOPIC: Medieval Textuality and the Tristan Tradition

REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

  • The Medieval Tristan Tradition (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder.  This webpage presents essential background information on the Tristan texts dating from the Middle Ages). 
  • Translatio (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder.  You are responsible only for material which is also covered in lectures; you can safely ignore the rest); and 
  • "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature" (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder).  This online reading refers to the following medieval prologues and epilogues:
REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
  • If you did not do so prior to our first class meeting, read completely through Joseph Bédier, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult (1900) -- a quick and easy read.
  • An episodic romance: Béroul, The Romance of Tristan.   Reading assignment for next class is ONLY the italicized summary of the beginning of the story (taken from Bedier) and Béroul's actual text (pp. 39-148 of the Béroul textbook.)
RECOMMENDED PRIMARY READING:
  • Marie de France, prologue and epilogue to the Fables and prologue to the Lais (.PDF file, 8 pp., on e-reserve in Polylearn). (The links take you to relevant portions of the REQUIRED online background reading.)
  • Prologues to Chrétien de Troyes's Erec and Enide and Cligés (in your Arthurian Romances textbook, the first two paragraphs of each work, found pp. 37 and 123). (Again, the links take you to the relevant portions of the online background reading.)
Follow LINK for PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT to be completed before day 1 of week two.

Week 2    (April 5-7)

Day 1 TOPIC: The "common" and "Courtly" traditions: An episodic romance: Béroul's The Romance of Tristan

REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

  • The Medieval Tristan Tradition (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder.  This webpage presents essential background information on the Tristan texts dating from the Middle Ages). 
  • Translatio (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder.  You are responsible only for material which is also covered in lectures; you can safely ignore the rest); and 
  • "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature" (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder). 
REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
  • An episodic romance: Béroul, The Romance of Tristan.   Reading assignment for today is ONLY the italicized summary of the beginning of the story (taken from Bedier) and Béroul's actual text (pp. 39-148 of the Béroul textbook.)

    • Note 1: passages printed in italics in our textbook are not part of Béroul's poem -- they are additions inserted by the translator to smooth out the choppiness of the incomplete narrative preserved in the single extant manuscript of Béroul's romance. These italicized passages -- which are required reading -- are taken from Bedier's reconstruction of the "whole" story (previously assigned). 
    Note 2:  the episode of "Tristan's Madness" printed pp. 151-164 of the Béroul textbook is likewise not part of Béroul's text; it is an entirely separate episodic poem (assigned for our next class meeting) which the translator chose to incorporate into his narrative. 
  • Fragments of Thomas's Romance of Tristan: printed in Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan, pp. 301-353 and Appendix 2, p.  364 ("The Scene in the Orchard")
 TEXT INFO:
  • Béroul wrote his romance, in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets, some time in the second half of the twelfth century; it appears to have influenced the work of Chrétien de Troyes (active ca. 1170-1190), so we assume it to predate those of Chrétien's works which show its influence.  Preserved in only one manuscript, in a single fragment of 4,485 lines; this fragment is itself divided into various episodes.   Part of the so-called "common tradition."
NOTE: If you'd like, feel free to skim through the Introduction in the Béroul textbook (pp. 9-35) -- but please note that the material you will be tested on is what's found in required background readings and/or listed under "text info" here on the course calendar -- not what's presented in this textbook's Introduction.. 

[POSSIBLE PRESENTATION (for a totally jazzed student who is confident about using Polycat, Link+, the MLA Bibliography and Interlibrary Loan!)]: 
  • Béroul, The Romance of Tristan:
Day 2 Thomas's Tristan fragments; two short episodic poems, Marie de France's "Chevrefoil" and "Tristan's Madness"


REVIEW REQUIRED BACKGROUND READINGS:

  • The Medieval Tristan Tradition (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder.  This webpage presents essential background information on the Tristan texts dating from the Middle Ages). 
  • Translatio (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder.  You are responsible only for material which is also covered in lectures; you can safely ignore the rest); and 
  • "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature" (online reading; click on link to access, PRINT IT OUT, and include in your course binder). 

REQUIRED PRIMARY READING:

  • Review The Medieval Tristan Tradition (this online reading, assigned for our last class meeting, should already be included in your course binder). 
  • Appendix 1, "A Note on Thomas's Tristan," pp. 355-63 in Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan (a required textbook for this class)

    • REQUIRED PRIMARY READING:

    • Fragments of Thomas's Romance of Tristan
    • Marie de France, "Chevrefoil" (.PDF file, 3 pp.; on e-reserve in Polylearn; be sure to PRINT IT OUT, include it in your course binder, and BRING IT WITH YOU TO CLASS.)
    •  Tristan's Madness (an independent episodic poem by an unknown author which is printed in Béroul, The Romance of Tristan, pp. 151-64). 
    [POSSIBLE PRESENTATION (for a totally jazzed student who is confident about using Polycat, Link+, the MLA Bibliography and Interlibrary Loan!)]: 
    • Thomas's Tristan:
    • Marie de France's "Chevrefoil":
    		TEXT INFO:
  • Thomas wrote his romance in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets, ca. 1170-75 for the Anglo-Norman court; eight fragments totalling more than 3000 lines have been preserved in five different manuscripts. Part of the so-called "courtly tradition."
  • Marie de France was active ca. 1160s-1190s at the Anglo-Norman court; "Chevrefoil" is one of her collection of twelve lais, or short narrative poems in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets.
  • There are two versions of the episode of Tristan's Madness (or "Folie Tristan"), both of which are short French narrative poems, probably dating from the second half of the twelfth century, in octosyllabic rhyming couplets. The two texts present alternate versions of a single episode in the Tristan story, when the exiled Tristan returns to the court of Cornwall disguised as a madman in order to see his beloved Isolde. 
  • Our 572-line text is preserved in a single manuscript in Berne, Switzerland (hence the commonly used French title, the "Folie Tristan de Berne").  It is associated with the so-called "common tradition" because when Tristan is trying to convince Isolde of his identity, he refers to some episodes found in Béroul's text but not in Thomas's. (This explains why the Penguin Classics  translator of Béroul's text chose to fold this originally independent poem into his translation of Béroul.) 
  • The other extant version of the episode of Tristan's Madness is preserved in a single manuscript in Oxford, England (hence the commonly used French title, the "Folie Tristan d'Oxford").  It is associated with the so-called "courtly tradition" because when Tristan is trying to convince Isolde of his identity, he refers to some episodes found in Thomas's text but not in Béroul's. 
    • PRESENTATIONS (up to two):
    • Marie de France's "Chevrefoil": Rachel Weeks

    		Follow LINK for POLYCAT RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT to be completed by TUESDAY of week three.
    Follow LINK for LINK+ RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT to be completed by THURSDAY of week three.

    Week 3    (April 12-14)

    NOTE: CSU faculty may be on Strike April 14-20.  On Th 4/14 and T 4/19, class will meet in library computer labs with DVD/VHS players.  In the event of a strike, there will be in-class screenings of two required videos, Tom Donovan's 1979 film Lovespell (on Th 4/14), and the DVD of Extended Scenes from Wagner's 1857-1859 opera Tristan und Isolde (on T 4/19).  In the event that the Faculty Contract is settled without a strike, the calendar will be modified accordingly. 



    Day 1
    		 TOPIC: An anti-Tristan: Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING: 

    • Cligés Study Guide (online reading; be sure to PRINT IT OUT, place it in your course binder, and bring it with you to class).  NOTE: this study guide should be read BEFORE you tackle the primary text itself; use it to guide your reading of  Chrétien's romance.
    • Review "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature" (online reading; assigned for 4/7 which should already be in your course binder).  This reading should help you better understand the literary techniques employed by Chrétien (e.g. his borrowing from prior literary works, including numerous Tristan elements).  Recall that this online reading refers to the following medieval prologues and epilogues by Marie de France and by Chrétien de Troyes assigned the first week of class.
    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING:
    • Chrétien de Troyes, Cligés (in Arthurian Romances, required textbook, pp. 123-203). 
    Follow LINK for MLA RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT to be completed by day one of week four.    		 TEXT INFO:  Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190; Cligés, his second extant romance, is in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets. 

    Optional background reading:  follow link for information on Chrétien's The Knight of the Cart, the first Lancelot and Guenevere romance, which was also modelled on the Tristan romances, from which it borrows freely (includes e.g. variations on the flour on the floor episode, the ambiguous oath, a passion inspired by a woman's golden hair, and an adulterous passion linking a King's wife with his best knight).

    NOTE: you are responsible only for the information listed above under "text info," NOT for additional material found on the linked Knight of the Cart page (an optional reading).  You may also find it helpful to skim through the Introduction (pp. 1-25 in Arthurian Romances) -- but please note that the material you will be tested on is what's found in required background readings and/or listed under "TEXT INFO" on the course calendar -- not what's presented in optional readings such as the introduction to the textbook.

    POSSIBLE PRESENTATIONS (up to two): 

    •  
    •  
    Day 2
    		 [First hour as needed: wrap up discussion of Chrétien's Cligés]

    NEW TOPIC: Tristan Film 1 -- Tom Donovan's Lovespell (1979)

    CLASS MEETS IN LIBRARY COMPUTER LAB -- SPECIFIC LOCATION TBA

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

    • Meradith McMunn, "Filming the Tristan Myth: From Text to Icon" (from Cinema Arthuriana, ed. Kevin J. Harty [New York: Garland, 1991], pp. 169-180; .PDF file, 6 pp., on e-reserve in Polylearn; be sure to PRINT IT OUT, include it in your course binder, and BRING IT WITH YOU TO CLASS.)
    • IMDB page on Tom Donovan's Lovespell (consult online and/or place print-out in course binder).
    REQUIRED FILM: 
    • Tom Donovan's Lovespell (filmed 1979; released 1981).   NOTE: This film (91 min.) is REQUIRED VIEWING by today's class.  Group Screenings in the library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house can be arranged; dates and times TBA.   Two DVD copies of the film (91 min.) are on reserve for ENGL 459 in Kennedy Library under the call number 398.2 T738L6 2004 (DVD); if you check it out, please be sure it is RETURNED TO THE RESERVE DESK BY 1/2 HOUR BEFORE SCHEDULED GROUP SCREENING!  You may also be able to rent this film from NetFlix or Amazon.com.
    		FILM INFO: 
    • Film dates from 1979 but was not released until 1981.  Director: Tom Donovan; produced and written by Claire Labine (worth noting:  the prior professional background of both Donovan and Labine was primarily in television soap operas). 
    • Stars Richard Burton (in his last film appearance) as King Mark and a very young Kate Mulgrew as Isolt; also features Nicholas Clay (Tristan) and Geraldine Fitzgerald (Bronwen). 
    • Alternate titles: Summer of the Falcon (UK title); Tristan and Iseult; Tristan and Isolde.

    Week 4   (April 19-21 -- possibility of Faculty Strike on T 4/19)

    Day 1

    [First hour as needed: wrap up discussion of Donovan's Lovespell]

    NEW TOPIC: A Mega-Romance:  Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

    • Review the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature" (which should already be in your course binder) to remind yourself of the issues involved in Gottfried's German adaptation of Thomas's French poem.
    • NEW online reading: "Courtly Love"; read for a better understanding of the treatment of love in Gottfried's poem.
    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING:
    • Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan, pp. 41-204.

    		TEXT INFO:
    • Written ca. 1210, Gottfried's Tristan, a German romance that is an adaptation or translatio (more than simply a "translation") of Thomas's romance, contains 19,416 lines in rhyming couplets; it breaks off (presumably because Gottfried died before finishing it) just after the point where the surviving fragments of Thomas begin. 
    • Part of the so-called "courtly tradition." 
    NOTE: You may also find it helpful to skim through the Introduction in the textbook (pp. 7-35) -- but please note that the material you will be tested on is what's found in found in required background readings and/or listed under "TEXT INFO" on this course calendar -- not what's presented in the introduction to the text.
    Day 2

    TOPICS:  Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan, cont.

    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 

    Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan, pp. 205-297.

       

    • Follow LINK for FULL-TEXT ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTION DATABASE RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT to be completed by end of week five.
    • NOTE 1: You must see the DVD of Extended Scenes from Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde (based on Gottfried's Tristan) PRIOR TO OUR NEXT CLASS MEETING (day one of week 5).  Group Screenings of this required film will be scheduled in the library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house.  Two copies of the DVD of the performance (approx. 90 min.) are on reserve for ENGL 459 in Kennedy Library, so you can also check it out on your own time for independent in-library viewing  -- BUT BE SURE IT IS RETURNED TO THE CIRCULATION DESK BY 1/2 HOUR BEFORE ANY SCHEDULED GROUP SCREENING!!  Also, when you screen the DVD, BE SURE TO TURN ON THE ENGLISH SUBTITLES, or you will be VERY confused! You may also be able to rent this film from NetFlix. 
    • NOTE 2: Click on link to read the synopsis of the opera BEFORE viewing the video (approx. 90 min.).

    Week 5    (April 26 - 28)

    Day 1 [First hour or as needed: oral presentation and wrap-up discussion of Gottfried's Tristan]

    NEW TOPIC:  Wagner's Opera Tristan und Isolde

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING (print out and bring to class)

    • Synopsis of the opera (online reading to complete BEFORE viewing video; be sure to PRINT IT OUT, place in your course binder, and bring it with you to class).
    • Helmut Reichenbächer, "Richard Wagner's Adaptation of Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan" (from the University of Toronto Quarterly 67.4 [1998]: 762-67; .PDF file, 4 pp.; on e-reserve in Polylearn). 
    • Renee L. Curtis, "Wagner's Tristan und Isolde: The Transformation of a Medieval Legend" (from Tristania 8.2 [1983]: 3-14; .PDF file, 13 pp.; on e-reserve in Polylearn).  
    • Fred Toner, "Wagner's Tristan und Isolde: A Transformation of the Medieval Legend" (from Chimères 1 [1981]: 49-65; .PDF file, 10 pp.; on e-reserve in PolyLearn). 
    REQUIRED FILM:  Extended scenes from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. DVD (approx. 90 min.) is REQUIRED VIEWING by today's class.

    ALSO:  PLEASE READ AND BRING TO CLASS: Arnold's "Tristram and Iseult"  (.PDF file, 12 pp., on e-reserve in PolyLearn) in case we don't need full class time for Gottfried wrap-up and Wagner discussion.

    OPERA AND FILM INFO: 

    Recommended resource:  while not required, you may find it interesting to explore the Metropolitain Opera's Tristan und Isolde website.

    PRESENTATIONS: 

    •   On Gottfried (focus on the Love Grotto): Katie Girvan 
    •   On Wagner's opera: Abigail Smith
    Day 2 TOPIC: The Victorian Era 1--Arnold and Tennyson

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
    • Matthew Arnold, "Tristram and Iseult" (1852) (PDF file, 12 pp.)
    • Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Last Tournament" (1871; part of his Arthurian collection The Idylls of the King) (PDF file, 11 pp.)
    • Both poems are on e-reserve in PolyLearn; be sure to PRINT THEM OUT, place them in your course binder, and BRING THEM WITH YOU TO CLASS.
    		 TEXT INFO: 
    • British poet Matthew Arnold lived from 1822-1888. His "Tristram and Iseult" (1852), the first nineteenth-century English treatment of the theme, is a narrative poem comprising a series of monologues and dialogues written in various forms of rhymed verse (primarily, but not exclusively, in couplets). 
    • British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson lived from 1809-1892. His "The Last Tournament" (1871) was published as part of The Idylls of the King (1859-1885), a collection of poems in blank verse (=unrhymed iambic pentameter) recounting the rise and fall of King Arthur.
    Supplemental Readings (recommended but NOT required):  PRESENTATIONS (one on each work):
    • On Matthew Arnold:  Kelly Todd
    • On Tennyson: Rachel Bell

    		REMINDER 1: Follow LINK for FULL-TEXT ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTION DATABASE RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT to be completed by end of week five.
    REMINDER 2: This week marks the half-way point of the quarter.  This means it's time to be thinking about your final project and begin work on your research paper PROSPECTUS, OUTLINE AND WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY, due by the end of week 7.   Follow the link for Prospectus guidelines; be aware that your Prospectus must include a working paper title which clearly identifies the work(s) discussed as well as the topic of your paper; a fully articulated thesis (not just a statement of general topic); a tentative outline of paper; and a working bibliography of at least eight sources, alphabetized and listed using correct MLA bibliographic format (consult your MLA Handbook!).  The working bibliography should include at least one of each of the required Types of Source and Modes of Access as specified in the Prospectus guidlines.

    Week 6    (May 3 - 5)
     
    Day 1 As needed, continue discussion of Tennyson and Arnold. 

    NEW TOPIC: The Victorians and Pre-Raphaelitism 2 -- Algernon Charles Swinburne 1

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

  • Review "Tristan and Isolt after the Middle Ages" from the Camelot Project website (assigned for last class meeting; follow link to access the required section of this online reading, which is only a small portion of the page itself; be aware that you do NOT need to print out the entire webpage, just the three final paragraphs of the essay, which begin at this link.)
  • Algernon Charles Swinburne Biography from the Victorian Web.
  • Have a look at the paintings on the class homepage and spend some time browsing the 19th-century images of Tristan and Isolt and of King Mark on the Camelot Project website.
    • REQUIRED PRIMARY READINGS: 
    • Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Queen Yseult" (1857-1858) (.PDF file, 27 pp.; on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of PolyLearn; PRINT IT OUT AND BRING IT WITH YOU TO CLASS!!)
    • Algernon Charles Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse (1882):  "Prelude"; I. "The Sailing of the Swallow"; II. "The Queen's Pleasance" (.PDF file, 13 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of PolyLearn; PRINT OUT .PDF FILE AND BRING IT WITH YOU TO CLASS!!) 
    		 TEXT INFO: 
    • British poet Algernon Charles Swinburne lived from 1837-1909. 
    • His early poem "Queen Yseult" (written 1857-1858) is divided into six "cantos" (or sections) written in tercets (i.e. three-line stanzas); all three lines of each tercet rhyme with each other, so that the rhyme scheme is "AAA BBB CCC" etc. 
    • The longer narrative poem Tristram of Lyonesse dates from 1882; it consists of a "Prelude" and nine sections (which we will read over three class meetings).  This work is written entirely in rhyming couplets (each subsequent pair of lines rhyme with each other, so that the rhyme scheme is "AA BB CC" etc.)
    RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
  • Review "Tristan and Isolt after the Middle Ages" from the Camelot Project website (assigned for last class meeting; follow link to access the required section of this online reading, which is only a small portion of the page itself; be aware that you do NOT need to print out the entire webpage, just the three final paragraphs of the essay, which begin at this link.)
  • Have another look at the paintings on the class homepage and spend some time browsing the 19th-century images of Tristan and Isolt and of King Mark on the Camelot Project website.
    • NOTE: assigned poems can be accessed on the Camelot Project website, but Camelot Project texts do not have line numbers, and print-outs of the poems are VERY LONG.  See the following links:  DAY 1 or 2 PRESENTATION: 
    • Mackenzie Soldan (presentation date depends on specific topic of presentation)
    Day 2 TOPIC: Algernon Charles Swinburne 2

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

  • Review "Tristan and Isolt after the Middle Ages" from the Camelot Project website (assigned for last class meeting; follow link to access the required section of this online reading, which is only a small portion of the page itself; be aware that you do NOT need to print out the entire webpage, just the three final paragraphs of the essay, which begin at this link.)
  • Algernon Charles Swinburne Biography from the Victorian Web.
  • Have a look at the paintings on the class homepage and spend some time browsing the 19th-century images of Tristan and Isolt and of King Mark on the Camelot Project website.
    • REQUIRED PRIMARY READINGS: 
    • Algernon Charles Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse (1882):  III. "Tristram in Brittany"; IV. "The Maiden Marriage"; V. " Iseult at Tintagel"; VI. "Joyous Gard" (.PDF file, 13 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of PolyLearn; PRINT OUT THIS SHORT .PDF FILE AND BRING IT WITH YOU TO CLASS!!) 
    • REMINDER: Continue work on your research paper PROSPECTUS, OUTLINE AND WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY, due by the end of week 7.   Follow the link for Prospectus guidelines; be aware that your Prospectus must include a working paper title which clearly identifies the work(s) discussed as well as the topic of your paper; a fully articulated thesis (not just a statement of general topic); a tentative outline of paper; and a working bibliography of at least eight sources, alphabetized and listed using correct MLA bibliographic format (consult your MLA Handbook!).  The working bibliography should include at least one of each of the required Types of Source and Modes of Access as specified in the Prospectus guidlines.
    • NOTE: Jean Delannoy's 1943 film L'Éternel retour (107 min.) must be screened prior to our second class meeting of week seven. Group Screenings will be arranged at the library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house. This film is NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD, so cannot be ordered on NetFlicks.  The VHS tape is on reserve in Kennedy Library, so you can also check it out on your own time for independent in-library viewing  -- BUT PLEASE BE SURE IT IS RETURNED TO THE CIRCULATION DESK BY 1/2 HOUR BEFORE A SCHEDULED GROUP SCREENING! 

    Week 7    (May 10 - 12)

    Reminder 1: Jean Delannoy's 1943 film L'Éternel retour (107 min.) must be screened prior to our second class meeting of week seven. Group Screenings will be arranged at the library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house. This film is NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD, so cannot be ordered on NetFlicks.  The VHS tape is on reserve in Kennedy Library, so you can also check it out on your own time for independent in-library viewing  -- BUT PLEASE BE SURE IT IS RETURNED TO THE CIRCULATION DESK BY 1/2 HOUR BEFORE A
    Reminder 2: PROSPECTUS, OUTLINE AND WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY, due in class on Thursday 2/20 or as an email attachment by MIDNIGHT on SUNDAY, 2/23.
    Reminder 3:  Deadline to submit Research Progress Reports to class research archive is MIDNIGHT on SUNDAY, 2/23
     
    Day 1 FIRST HOUR: Algernon Charles Swinburne 3 (conclusion); 
    SECOND HOUR: 20th-Century Perspectives on Isolde of the White Hands 

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

  • Oscar Fay Adams biography from Sacklunch.net. 
  • Maurice Baring biography from FantasticFiction.
  • Rhoda Pettit's Dorothy Parker Biography from the Modern American Poetry Site.
  • Have a look at the paintings on the class homepage and spend some time browsing the 20th-century images of Tristan and Isolt and of King Mark on the Camelot Project website.
    • REQUIRED PRIMARY READINGS: 
  • Algernon Charles Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse (1882): VII. "The Wife's Vigil"; VIII. "The Last Pilgrimage"; IX. "The Sailing of the Swan" (.PDF file, 13 pp., on e-reserve in PolyLearn);
  • Oscar Fay Adams, "The Pleasaunce of Maid Marian" (1906; .HTML file from the Camelot Project site); 
  • Maurice Baring, "From the Diary of Iseult of Brittany" (1913; .HTML file from the Camelot Project site); 
  • Dorothy Parker, "Guenevere at Her Fireside" (note reference to Tristan!) and "Iseult of Brittany" (both 1931; together in one PDF file, 2 pp.;on e-reserve in Polylearn).
    • Be sure to PRINT OUT these readings and bring them with you to class! 

    IMPORTANT: On your print-out of the Adams poem, be sure to WRITE IN LINE NUMBERS for every 5th line.  For your numbering, count "Isolt the White, the daughter of a king," as line 1; thus, line 5 (the first you should number) is "Upon an autumn midnight drencht with rain." 

    HINT: the lines to count are those that begin at the left margin, with the exception of the two half-lines "False heart! False love!" in Iseult's song, each of which counts as a full line.  Because lines in this poem are determined by syllable count, one numbered line may be printed over two subsequent lines; you will know to count only one line because the second of the two does not begin at the left margin.  EXAMPLE:  The following should be counted as three lines of text, although it is printed over four lines:
    The sharp-fac'd damsel, clanging to the door,
    Laught shrilly, crying out the while:
                                                 'Your guest,
    Good cousin, is not to your mind, meseems.'
    (Here, the second of the three countable lines begins with "Laught" and ends with " 'Your guest,").
    		 TEXT AND AUTHOR INFO: 
  • The American poet Oscar Fay Adams lived from 1855-1919.  He wrote a number of poems on Arthurian themes (available on the Camelot Project site), including "The Pleasaunce of Maid Marian" (1906), originally  published in the volume Sicut Patribus and Other Verse.  This poem is in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter). 
  • British writer Maurice Baring lived from 1874-1945; among his close friends was Hilaire Belloc, the English translator of Bédier's Romance of Tristan and Iseult.  "From the Diary of Iseult of Brittany" (1913) is a witty short story in prose which was originally published in the satirical collection Lost Diaries (London: Duckworth, 1913). 
  • American writer Dorothy Parker lived from 1893-1967.  She was a prominent member of the "Algonquin Round Table," a literary circle of New York writers and intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s.  A prolific author of poetry, fiction, theater reviews and critical essays, she was a frequent contributor to The New Yorker (among many other publications). "Guenevere at Her Fireside" and "Iseult of Brittany" both date from 1931; they were originally published in the volume Death and Taxes.  Both poems are in quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternating rhyme (rhyme scheme "ABAB CDCD" etc.)
    • PRESENTATION(S): 
    • Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse day 3 selections:
    • Swinburne, another aspect of day 3 selections:
    • on Adams, Baring and/or Parker:
    NOTE: Swinburne assignment can be accessed on the Camelot Project website, but Camelot Project texts do not have line numbers, and print-outs of the poems are VERY LONG.  See the following links:  ENGL 459 students:  do NOT print out the Swinburme from the Camelot Project site; instead, print out the much shorter .PDF files on e-reserve! 
    Day 2 TOPIC: Tristan Film 2 -- Jean Delannoy's L'Éternel retour (1943)

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READINGS:

    • Phyllis Gaffney, "A Double-Sided Mirror: Cocteau's L'Eternel Retour and the Medieval Sources," Tristania 21 (2002): 105-21 (.PDF file, 9 pp.; on e-reserve in PolyLearn; be sure to PRINT IT OUT, include it in your course binder, and BRING IT WITH YOU TO CLASS). 
    • IMDB page on Jean Delannoy's L'Éternel retour (consult online and/or place print-out in course binder).
    • Also review comments on L'Éternel retour in Meradith McMunn, "Filming the Tristan Myth: From Text to Icon," assigned reading for Th 3/17 (.PDF file, 6 pp., which should already be in your course binder). 
    REQUIRED FILM:
    • Jean Delannoy's L'Éternel retour (1943);  this film (107 min.) is REQUIRED VIEWING by today's class.Group Screenings possible (TBA).  The VHS cassette of the film is on reserve in the Kennedy Library, so you can also check it out on your own time for independent in-library viewing  -- BUT BE SURE IT IS RETURNED TO THE RESERVE DESK BY 1/2 HOUR BEFORE SCHEDULED GROUP SCREENINGS!!  This film is NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD.
    		FILM INFO:
    • Jean Delannoy's L'Éternel retour (1943; also released as The Eternal Return and Love Eternal; black and white, in French with English subtitles).  Directed by Jean Delannoy from a screenplay by Jean Cocteau. 
    • Cast: Jean Marais as Patrice (the Tristan role); Madeleine Sologne as Nathalie la blonde (Blonde Nathalie, the Isolde the Blonde/ Isolde of Ireland/ Queen of Cornwall role); Jean Murat as Marc; Junie Astor as Nathalie la brune (Brunette Nathalie, the Isolde of the White Hands role); Piéral as Achille Frossin (i.e.Frocin the Dwarf); Alexandre Rignault as Morholt.
    PRESENTATION(S) on Jean Delannoy's L'Éternel retour (1943):
    •  
    •  


     
    • Reminder: PROSPECTUS, OUTLINE AND WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY, due in class on Thursday 5/12 or as an emailed Word attachment by MIDNIGHT on SUNDAY, 5/15.   If submitted as an emailed word attachment, please save your document under the filename "[yourlastname]459prospectus.docx"
    • Reminder 2:  Deadline to submit Research Progress Reports to class research archives and to upload articles to the class ILL Repository is MIDNIGHT on SUNDAY, 5/22.
    • It's week 7 already!  . . . time to begin review for Midterm Exam (day 1 of wk. 9)!

    Week 8    (May 17 - 19)

    Day 1 TOPIC: John Updike's Brazil (1994)

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

    • John Updike Biography and the two paragraphs discussing Brazil (scroll down within the Sidelights section), both in Gale's Contemporary Authors (a Kennedy Library subscription database).
    • John Updike, "More Love in the Western World," rev. of Love Declared, by Denis de Rougemont; rpt. John Updike, Assorted Prose (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), pp. 283-300 (.PDF file, 10 pp.; on e-reserve in PolyLearn).
    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
    • Brazil, pp.  3-161
    		 TEXT AND AUTHOR INFO: 
    • American writer John Updike lived from 1932-2009. A prolific writer of fiction and essays, he won multiple awards for his work (including two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards for fiction, as well as virtually every other major literature prize imaginable with the exception of the Nobel Prize; for the full list of his honors and awards, see his entry in the Gale's Contemporary Authors subscription database). 
    • The Tristan-themed novel Brazil (1994) is a somewhat surreal reimagining of the Tristan story set in late-20th-century Rio de Janeiro with elements of magical realism.
    RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND READING:
    • Denis de Rougemont on "The Tristan Myth."  Excerpted from  Love in the Western World, by Denis de Rougemont, tr. Montgomery Belgion, rev. and augmented ed. (1940; Princeton: Princeton UP, 1983), pp. 15-55 (.PDF file, X pp.; on e-reserve in PolyLearn). 
    DAY 1 or 2 PRESENTATION: 
    • Harrison Trubitt (presentation date depends on specific topic of presentation)
    Day 2  TOPIC: John Updike's Brazil (1994)

    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 

    • Brazil, pp.  161-260
    This week you should . . . 
    • Continue Review for Midterm Exam (day 1 of wk. 9)
    • Meet with Dr. Schwartz for feedback on your final paper prospectus
    • Begin drafting chunks of close-reading of your primary texts ONLY -- NO SECONDARY CRITICS!!! -- for your final paper 
    NOTE: by our class meeting on day 2 of week 9, you must have watched TWO assigned films: 
    • Veith von Fürstenberg's hard-to-find Fire and Sword, a German-Irish made-for-European-television movie (1982, 84 min.; a VHS copy is on reserve in the Kennedy Library under ENGL 459); as well as 
    • Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde (2006; available from NetFlix, Amazon's Video on Demand, and possibly at public libraries and/or local video stores).
    Group Screenings of Fire and Sword (only) will be scheduled in the library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house.

    Week 9    (May 24 - 26)
     
    Day 1  Midterm Exam.

    NOTE: by our next class meeting (on Th 3/6), you must have watched TWO assigned films: 

    • Veith von Fürstenberg's hard-to-find Fire and Sword, a German-Irish made-for-European-television movie (1982, 84 min.; available only on VHS; a copy is on reserve in the Kennedy Library under ENGL 459); as well as 
    • Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde (2006; available from NetFlicks, Amazon's Video on Demand, and probably at local video stores). 

      • Group Screenings of Fire and Sword (only) will be scheduled in the library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house.
    		Group Screenings TBA.

    FILM INFO: 

    • Director Veith von Fürstenberg's hard-to-find Fire and Sword (also called Feuer und Schwert, although it is in English), is a German-Irish made-for-European-television movie (1982, 84 min.; released only on VHS in the US).  Features Christoph Waltz as Tristan, Antonia Preser as Isolde, Leigh Lawson as Mark, and Peter Firth as Dinas. 
    • Director Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde (2006, 125 min.) is the most recent cinematic refashioning of the Tristan legend.  It stars James Franco as Tristan, Sophia Myles as Isolde, and Rufus Sewell as Lord Marke.
    DAY 2 PRESENTATIONS (up to two, one per film):
    •  
    •  
    . 
    Day 2 TOPIC: Tristan Film 3 -- Veith von Fürstenberg's Fire and Sword (1982) and Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde (2006)

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READINGS:

    • IMDB pages on Veith von Fürstenberg's Fire and Sword (1982) and Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde (2006) (consult online and/or place print-outs in course binder).
    • Also review comments on Fire and Sword in Meradith McMunn, "Filming the Tristan Myth: From Text to Icon," assigned reading for day 2 of wk. 2 (.PDF file, 6 pp., which should already be in your course binder). 
    • Read the reviews of Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde by Keith Breese (he liked it), Keith Phipps (he didn't), and Mahnola Dargis (in the New York Times; a mixed reaction); then the browse through some of the other reviews found on Flicks.com. Come to class prepared to share.  What do YOU think, and why?
    RECOMMMENDED READING:
    • Browse through the screenplay of "Fire and Sword" on e-reserve in PolyLearn (.PDF file, 120 pp., so read online!)


    REQUIRED FILMS: 

    • Veith von Fürstenberg's Fire and Sword (also called Feuer und Schwert), a German-Irish made-for-European-television movie (1982, 84 min.) -- VHS and DVD copy on reserve for ENGL 459; group screenings TBA in library and/or at Dr. Schwartz's house.
    • Keith Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde (2006, 125 min.).  A DVD copy is on reserve for ENGL 459.  Because it is widely available (on NetFlix, Amazon.com video-on-demand, and possibly in local libraries and/or video stores, as well as on reserve in the Kennedy Library), no group screenings will be held for this film; see it on your own or with a friend. 

    Week 10  (May 31 - June 2)
     
    Day 1 TOPIC: 20th-Century Oddities:  Faulkner's Mayday; C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, "Mark vs. Tristram"; and two Updike short stories

    RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND READING:

    • Michael Blechner, "Tristan in Letters: Malory, C. S. Lewis, Updike," Tristania 6.1 (1980): 30-37 (.PDF file, 9 pp.; on e-reserve in PolyLearn).
    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
    • Faulkner, Mayday (1926; publ. post-humously 1977; .PDF file, ? pp.); hard copy is on reserve for ENGL 459 under the call number PS3511.A86 M36 1976 (check out the color illustrations!)
    • C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, "Mark vs. Tristram: Correspondence Between C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield" (ca. 1947; publ. post-humously 1967; .PDF file, 6 pp.)
    • John Updike, "Four Sides of One Story" (1966; PDF file, 8 pp.) and "Tristan and Iseult" (1994; .PDF file, 3 pp.). 
    Required primary readings are on e-reserve in PolyLearn; be sure to PRINT THEM OUT, include them in your course binder, and BRING THEM WITH YOU TO CLASS.

    		TEXT AND AUTHOR INFO: 
    • WIlliam Faulkner lived from 1897 - 1962. Mayday is a little known youthful work of this prolific American novelist.  Originally hand lettered, illustrated with his own water colors, and offered in 1926 as a gift to a love interest, Helen Baird, it was published post-humously in a facsimile edition in 1976.  Mayday is an allegorical tale about Sir Galwyn of Arthgyl, a young knight who sets out in quest of a beautiful woman he has seen in a vision.  On his quest, Galwyn travels through an enchanted forest where he encounters both Tristram (whom he kills) and Yseult (whom he seduces and then becomes disenchanted with, leading him to abandon her).  After similar encounters with two other beautiful women, the disillusioned knight apparently commits suicide by entering a river to embrace "Little Sister Death," the beautiful woman of his original vision -- or does he?  Mayday is seen by some critics as an important precursor of The Sound and the Fury and other later Faulknerian works.
    • Updike's ongoing interest in the Tristan tradition is attested not only by Brazil but by these two short fictions: "Four Sides of One Story" originally appeared in the collection The Music School: Short Stories (1966); "Tristan and Iseult" originally appeared in the collection The Afterlife and Other Stories (1994). 
    DAY 1 PRESENTATIONS:
    • on Faulkner's Mayday:
    • on Updike's short stories and/or on the Lewis/Barfield piece  (this topic may be difficult to research and is not recommended as a presentation topic unless all other topics are taken):
    DAY 2 TEXT AND AUTHOR INFO:
    • Steven Millhauser is a living American author, born in 1943., who is on the English faculty at Skidmore College in upstate New York (and has been known to respond to emails from my students!)  The author of numerous novels and fiction collections, his awards include a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1997 for Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (for the full list, see his entry in the Gale's Contemporary Authors subscription database). 
    • "The King in the Tree" (2003) is the title novella of the collection of the same name.
    DAY 2 PRESENTATION (on "The King in the Tree"):
    •  
    Day 2  TOPIC: Contemporary American Fiction -- Steven Millhauser

    REQUIRED BACKGROUND READING:

    • Steven Millhauser Biography and the two paragraphs discussing The King in the Tree: Three Novellas (scroll down within the Sidelights section), both in Gale's Contemporary Authors (a Kennedy Library subscription database).
    • other critical discussion TBA
    REQUIRED PRIMARY READING: 
    • Steven Millhauser, "The King in the Tree" (2003; in the required textbook The King in the Tree: Three Novellas, pp. 141-242).

    In lieu of a traditional final exam, our final conversation of the quarter will take place during our scheduled Final Exam time, 4:10-7:00 PM on  Tuesday, 6/7/16, in conjunction with an (optional) Class Dinner at my home.  Please note that while it will be graded Pass/Fail, this "final conversation" is a required component of the class. 

    Please note that final papers are due in hard copy, along with your original, marked up prospectus, no later than the night of the final oral exercise / class dinner.  Please email me, also, an electronic copy of your paper, saved as a .docx or .doc file under the file name "[your last name]459paperS16.docx"