ENGL 459: Modern
Arthurian Literature
| Winter, 2014
|
 Class
meetings: TR 2-4, Rm. 2-13
Office: 47-35G, tel.
756-2636
Office Hours: M 12:30-1:30 (alternate
location TBA); W 4:10-5:00, Th 9:00-11:00, and by
appt. |
 Dr.
Debora B. Schwartz
Main English
Office: 756-2597
e-mail: dschwart@calpoly.edu |
Oral Presentation Schedule
Week 3 (October 6-8)
| Day 1 |
The
One
and Future King, cont. / T. H. White's The Book of Merlyn
(posthumously published conclusion to The Once and
Future King).
Required Readings:
- OFK 515-639 (The
Candle in the Wind)
- T. H. White's The
Book of Merlyn (posthumously published
conclusion to The Once and Future King)
PRESENTATIONS: 1) Suggested OFK topics: pacifism /
connection between "might" and "right"; depiction of /
attitude toward women/sexuality; depiction of a specific
character (e.g. Lancelot; Guenevere; Morgause/Morgan);
2) some aspect of The Book of Merlyn; comparison
of the two texts (The
Candle in the Wind and The Book of Merlyn) as
endings to OFK.
- Claire Phillips on The Once
and Future King
- Gisele Olson on The Book of
Merlyn
|
| Day 2 |
Adaptations/Continuations
of T. H. White: 1) Lerner and Loewe's
musical Camelot;
2) Disney's animated The
Sword
in the Stone
REQUIRED FILMS:
PRESENTATIONS:
- Adrienne King on Disney's The
Sword in the Stone
- Sarah Camsuzou on Lerner and
Lowe's Camelot and Joshua Logan's filmed
version of the musical
|
Week 4 (October 13-15)
Day 1
|
John Steinbeck, The
Acts
of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
(=AKA); Introduction to the Victorian Arthur /
Tennyson's The
Idylls
of the King (=Idylls)
Required Primary
Readings:
- John Steinbeck's project:The
Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights.
AKA vi-xiv (Author's Dedication and
Introduction -- review texts assigned for last
class); AKA 77-96 ("The Wedding of King Arthur");
AKA 207-293 ("The Noble Tale of Sir Lancelot of
the Lake");
- Fatal Kisses (medieval): Dante,
Inferno, Canto V: Paola and Francesca
(.PDF file, 4 pp., on e-reserve in the Library
Resources section of Polylearn).
- Fatal Kisses (modern): Steinbeck's
Writer's Block. The following are required
selections from Steinbeck's Correspondence:
AKA Appendix pp. 297-8 (through letter dated
12/3/56), 317-19 (letter of 7/7/58), and 342-4
(letter of 5/13/59).
PRESENTATION:
- Jennifer Dragan on Steinbeck's
project in The Acts of King Arthur and
His Noble Knights (including his Writer's
Block as represented in the correspondence
found in the Appendix to AKA, pp. 296-364).
|
Day 2
|
Tennyson's Arthurian
Project: The
Idylls of the King
[as needed, continue discussion of
texts assigned for previous class]
Required Readings:
- Review ENGL 459 Tennyson's
Idylls page and University
of Rochester Camelot Project Tennyson information
(click on links to access these short online
readings)
- Review Tennyson's Project
primary readings: Idylls
19-20, "Dedication" (also online);
Idylls 301-2, "To the Queen" (also online)
- NEW primary readings: Tennyson's
Arthur: Idylls 21-35, "The Coming of Arthur"
(also online);
Idylls 288-300, "The Passing of Arthur" (also
online)
PRESENTATIONS
(up to two):
- Crystal Guzman: Tennyson's Arthur ("The Coming of Arthur" and/or "The
Passing of Arthur"); may include relevant
Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from
Camelot Project "Arthur"
links.
|
Week 5 (October 20-22)
| Day 1 |
Tennyson's
Lancelot, Guinevere and Elaine
Required Primary Readings:
- Idylls 168-205, "Lancelot
and Elaine" (also online);
- Idylls 248-68, "The Last
Tournament" (also online);
- Idylls 269-87, "Guinevere"
(also online).
PRESENTATIONS:
- Amanda Buckler: Tennyson's
Lancelot (may include relevant
Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from
Camelot Project "Lancelot"
links.
- Maira Argenbright: Tennyson's
Guinevere and/or Elaine (may include relevant
Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images of
Guinevere from Camelot Project "Guinevere"
links and/or
images of ELAINE from Camelot Project "Elaine
of
Astolat/Lady of Shalott" links).
Presentation may focus on one of the two women or on
a contrast of the "True" (Elaine) and the "False"
(Guinevere) in assigned Idylls
|
| Day 2 |
Victorian
Sensibilities: Other Visions of Guenevere and/or
Lancelot
Required Film:
- Jerry Zucker's First
Knight (1995,134 min.) Please remember
that this film MUST BE SCREENED BEFORE CLASS TIME!!
It is available in VHS on reserve for ENGL 459 under
the call number 398.2
AR77F
(Vid.C.). Group screenings in Library can be arranged upon
request. For library screenings, a volunteer
will be needed to pick up the video on reserve for
this class at the Circulation Desk. Films may
also be screened on your own (available
e.g. from NetFlicks, Hulu, Amazon's Video on Demand,
and/or through local libraries or video stores).
Required Primary Readings:
PRESENTATIONS (up to two):
|
Week 6 (October 27-29)
| Day 1 |
Visions of
Merlin / Fatal Women: Vivian, Morgan, Nimue
Required Primary Readings:
- Steinbeck, AKA 3-47 ("Merlin");
AKA 99-123 ("The Death of Merlin"); AKA 109-123
("Morgan le Fay").
- Tennyson, Idylls 142-67,
"Merlin and Vivien" (also available online);
- Robert Buchanan, "Merlin's
Tomb" (1859; online reading -- PRINT OUT and
bring to class!);
- Tennyson, "Merlin
and the Gleam" (1889; online reading -- PRINT
OUT and bring to class!);
- Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, "To
Nimue" (1914; online reading -- PRINT OUT and
bring to class!);
- Thomas de Beverley, "The
Story
of Nimue" (1925; online reading -- PRINT OUT
and bring to class!).
PRESENTATIONS (up to two):
- Jenna Chudzicki:
Tennyson's (and/or other assigned versions of)
witchy women
- Marissa Amadkhani: Tennyson's
(and/or other assigned versions of) Merlin
|
| Day 2 |
Visions
of
the Grail
Required Primary Readings:
PRESENTATION(s) (up to two):
Suggested topics: Tennyson's Grail and/or Grail
hero; the Grail and/or Grail hero in one or more of
the other assigned texts; the Grail and/or Grail hero
in Wagner's
opera Parsifal; how Pre-Raphaelite
illustrations and/or other images from the Camelot Project "Holy
Grail," "Galahad"
or "Perceval"
links correspond to one or more assigned
literary text.
NOTE: Any student selecting Wagner's Parsifal
should like (or at least be comfortable with) opera,
and, ideally, should be familiar with THIS opera; s/he
will be responsible for selecting some arias/scenes to
screen and/or play for class, as well as some reading
selections to be placed on e-reserve.
- Phillip Schierer (specific focus TBA)
- (possible second presentation: Samuel
Stockton -- alternate topic MOA 4, M 11/24)
|
Week 7 (November 3-5)
RESEARCH PAPER PROSPECTUS,
OUTLINE
AND WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE IN CLASS ON WEDNESDAY
11/5, or, by PRIOR ARRANGEMENT, as an email attachment
submitted no later than midnight on Friday, 11/7.
Also note: Deadline to submit Research
Progress Reports to class research archive is MIDNIGHT on
SUNDAY, 11/9!!
| Day 1 |
John
Boorman's film Excalibur
(141 min.), WHICH MUST BE SCREENED BY CLASS
TIME!!
Required Film:
PRESENTATION:
Suggested topics: Boorman's Morgan (may also
include Merlin and/or Mordred); Boorman's Grail
sequence (may include e.g. success and failure on the
Grail quest, Wasteland and Wounded King motifs)
- Andrew Hall: Boorman's
Grail sequence
|
| Day 2 |
Catch-up Day; Review for
Exam; Preparation for Marion Zimmer Bradley's The
Mists
of Avalon
Required Background Reading:
- Marion Zimmer Bradley, "My Search
for Morgaine le Fay" (.PDF file, 2 pp., on
e-reserve
in Polylearn) Original found in The
Vitality of the Arthurian Legend: Proceedings
of the Twelfth International Symposium
Organized by the Centre for the Study of
Vernacular Literature in the Middle Ages Held
at Odense University on 16-17 November, 1987,
ed. Mette Pors (Odense [Denmark]: Odense
University Press, 1988), 105-109.; Prep
PAPER PROSPECTUS AND WORKING
BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE in hard copy in class today, or with
prior approval, as an emailed word attachment no later
than midnight on F 11/5.
START READING THE MISTS OF AVALON
|
NOTE: Deadline to submit Research
Progress Reports to class research archive is MIDNIGHT on
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24!!
Week 8 (November 10-12)
Week 9
(November 17-19).
Week 10 (November 24-26)
| Day 1 |
Marion Zimmer Bradley, The
Mists
of Avalon
Required Primary Reading:
- MoA
655-876 (The Prisoner in the Oak).
PRESENTATION:
- Samuel Stockwell
(tentative -- alternate topic 2nd Grail Quest
presentation W 10/29)
|
Day 2
|
No Class -- Happy Thanksgiving!
|
Week 11 (December 1-3)
Day 1
|
Monty
Python's
Holy Grail (1974, dir. Terry Gilliam and Terry
Jones, approx. 90 mins.) and/or the musical
Monty Python's Spamalot!
PRESENTATION on Monty
Python's
Holy Grail:
|
Day 2
|
Wrap-Up
- Remember to return your original, marked-up prospectus
to Dr. Schwartz today in class (be sure to keep a copy
for yourself).
- FINAL RESEARCH PAPER DUE either in hard copy today
(our last class meeting) or as a Word document emailed
to me no later than MIDNIGHT on SUNDAY,
12/7. If submitted as an emailed word
attachment, please save your document under the filename
"[yourlastname]459paperF14.docx" (or .doc).
|
Send me mail