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CALENDAR OF ASSIGNEMENTS
| Week | 0
(before 1st seminar meeting) |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
NOTE 1: Assigned readings
should be completed prior to the seminar meeting 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:
RECOMMENDED textbooks that
you may find useful for background reading,
especially if you have not previously read much
Arthurian literature; note
that the love between Lancelot and Guinevere was
invented and introduced into literary tradition by
Chrétien
de Troyes in his
late 12th-century romance, The
Knight of the Cart
(included in the Penguin Classics
volume Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de
Troyes).
| Day 1 |
INTRODUCTION
to ENGL
459: course organization, requirements and
expectations.
Overview of Readings and Films
Studied (sign-ups for presentation topics
began over email for T.H. White, and continue for
other topics today and Thursday). Read through
the Oral Presentation Guidelines
and have a look at the Schedule
of Oral Presentations, and start to think about
what works you would like to present. REQUIRED background reading
assignment:
RECOMMENDED background reading assignment:
If you haven't already selected a presentation topic, please email Dr. Schwartz a list of your five preferred presentation topics -- which must include at least one literary text or author and at least one work in another medium (film, opera, musical) -- in order of preference, ASAP and no later than Friday before the second seminar meeting. Prepare Day 2 required readings (below) before our next seminar meeting. |
| Day 2 |
I. The "Classic"
Anglo-American Arthur: T.H. White's The One
and Future King (=OFK), first published as a "novel" in four parts
in 1958.
Required Readings:
If you haven't already selected a presentation topic, please email Dr. Schwartz a list of your five preferred presentation topics -- which must include at least one literary text or author and at least one work in another medium (film, opera, musical) -- in order of preference, before our second seminar meeting. POSSIBLE PRESENTATION on one of the listed Discussion Topics: |
| SEMINAR ORGANIZATION: by
the end of week 1 . . . 1) You should have filled out the ENGL 459
questionnaire in as much detail as possible
and submit it to me BOTH IN HARD COPY AND
ELECTRONICALLY. You may do so in one of two ways:
2) You should have selected, requested, and/or been assigned an Oral Presentation Topic. (Sign-ups for T.H. White topics begin over email prior to the first seminar meeting; additional sign-ups will take place during week 1 seminar meetings). All students should EMAIL Dr. Schwartz a list of their five preferred presentation topics -- which must include at least one literary text and at least one work in another medium (film, opera, musical) -- in order of preference, before the second seminar meeting. Oral Presentation Assignment Overview:
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| IF I HAVE ALL STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRES BY
FRIDAY, you will be assigned to a small Personal
Reaction Discussion Group on Canvas where you will
make a weekly post of at least one paragraph about your
reaction to the previous week's assigned works -- what
they got you thinking about. Then, you will offer a
brief response to two other discussion group members. These postings are meant to be low-key and informal. Start with at least one quote from the work in question, but focus on your personal experience of the work -- what it reminds you of or made you think about. Some students connect works to their own lives or those of people they know; some explore parallels with historical or current events; some consider politics, philosophical perspectives or cultural currents. You are free to make connections with other literary or artistic works and movements, with pop culture, with your own creative endeavors, or with anything else you feel moved to write about. Because personal reactions are filtered through the lenses of each participant's experience and beliefs, this forum is a great way to get to know your classmates better as well as to engage more deeply with the works we are reading or screening. Personal Reactions are due by midnight each SUNDAY. By midnight on TUESDAY, each student should read through the postings of the other group members and reply to at least TWO with a classmate respond of at least one paragraph in length. Classmate responses should include at least one quote from a work read or screened the previous week. This weekly assignment is a low-stress opportunity to engage with the material in a more personal way. Your weekly Personal Reactions and Classmate Responses will not be assigned individual letter grades, but they are REQUIRED and factor into the 45% Participation, Intellectual Engagement and Collaboration component of the final course grade. (Failure to submit a required posting or to follow assignment guidelines will count as an "unexcused absence" from the Personal Reaction Forum and will have a negative effect on that component of your course grade.) |
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| IF THERE IS AN ORAL PRESENTATION AT OUR SECOND SEMINAR MEETING, presenter will post the Oral Presentation Write-Up by midnight on Sunday; in that case, each of you must post your required Classmate Response to the Oral Presentation Write-Up no later than midnight on Tuesday. (NOTE: typically, the write-up for a Friday Oral Presentation should be posted on Saturday and the Classmate Responses on Monday, but since this is the first one I'm allowing an extra day!) |
| Day 1 | The
One and Future King, cont.
Reading: NOTE: this is a long assignment due to the cancelled class meeting on Friday, October 1. Double dose due to cancelled class on Friday, October 1;
Discussion topics: pacifism
/ connection between "might" and "right"; depiction of
/ attitude toward women/sexuality; characterization of a
significant character (e.g. Morgause, Gawain,
Arthur, Lancelot, Guenevere)
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| Day 2 |
LOOKING AHEAD: by our class meeting on 10/8/21, you must have read through the scripts of the two films listed below (both are on e-reserve in Canvas) and then watched and submitted Initial Film Response worksheets for TWO assigned filmic adaptations of T.H. White:
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| Day 1 | The One
and Future King, concl., AND T. H. White's The Book of Merlyn (posthumously
published conclusion to The Once and Future King). [As needed, complete discussion of The Queen of Air and Darkness and The Ill-Made Knight] Required readings:
Discussion Topics: differences between White's preferred ending (five books rather than four, culminating in The Book of Merlyn) and the ending his editors required (the current fourth book, The Candle in the Wind); changes across the full novel in the characterization and depiction of principal characters (e.g. Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, Mordred, Merlyn); Arthur's legagy / the future of Camelot; Merlyn's teachings -- successful or not? POSSIBLE PRESENTATIONS: (if two people present, one should
focus on The Candle in the Wind and one on The
Book of Merlyn) LOOKING AHEAD: by our NEXT class meeting (on F 10/8/21), you must have read through the scripts of the two films listed below (both are on e-reserve in Canvas) AND watched the two films AND submitted Initial Film Response worksheets for TWO assigned filmic adaptations of T.H. White:
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| Day 2 | Adaptations/Continuations
of T. H. White: 1) Lerner and
Loewe's musical Camelot;
2) Disney's animated The Sword in the Stone
[As needed, complete discussion of OFK
and Book of Merlyn] REQUIRED FILMS: by today's class meeting, you must have read through the scripts of the two films listed below (both are on e-reserve in Canvas, or you may read them online on Scripts.com using the links provided below); AND watched and submitted INITIAL FILM RESPONSE WORKSHEETS for BOTH assigned filmic adaptations of T.H. White:
REQUIRED Readings (you must have access to the scripts for today's seminar meeting):
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| Day 1 |
Steinbeck's Project: The Acts of King
Arthur and His Noble Knights Required Readings:
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| Day 2 |
| Day 1 |
Tennyson's
Arthur in The Idylls of the King
[as needed, continue discussion of texts assigned for previous class] Required Readings:
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| Day 2 |
Tennyson's Lancelot,
Guinevere and Elaine
[as needed, continue discussion of
texts assigned for previous class] Required Background Readings:
Required Primary Readings:
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| Day 1 |
Victorian
Sensibilities: Other Visions of Lancelot,
Guenevere and Elaine
[as needed, continue discussion of
texts assigned for previous class] FIRST HOUR of seminar meeting:
William Morris's Guenevere (plus an early Guinevere
depiction by Tennyson) Required Readings:
SECOND HOUR of seminar meeting: Jerry Zucker's 1995 film First Knight
Required Readings:
REMINDER: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY due by midnight on SUNDAY 11/10/24 (between wks. 7 & *) |
| Day 2 |
Visions of Merlin / Fatal Women: Vivian, Morgan, Nimue [as needed, continue discussion of texts assigned for previous class] New Online Background Readings:
Required Primary Readings:
LOOKING AHEAD: by our class meeting on Tuesday, 11/12/24, you much have read John Boorman's Excalibur screenplay (on e-reserve in Canvas, or read online at Scripts.com) AND watched John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur (141 min.), as well as submitting the Initial Film Response Worksheet for this film. |
| Day 1 |
[As needed, complete discussion of
Merlin/Vivien/Nimue texts assigned for last class
meeting] Required Background Readings:
Required Primary Readings:
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 in Canvas.BB
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| Day 2 |
Visions of the Grail continue discussion of poems assigned for previous class meeting LOOKING AHEAD: by our next class meeting (on Friday, 11/12/24), you much have read John Boorman's Excalibur screenplay (.PDF file, 108 pp., on e-reserve in Canvas, or read online at Scripts.com) AND watched John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur (141 min.), as well as submitting the Initial Film Response Worksheet for this film. PAPER PROSPECTUS DUE as an emailed .docx attachment no later than midnight on Sunday 11/10/24 START READING THE MISTS OF AVALON |
Week 8 (November 12 - 14)
**PAPER PROSPECTUS due to Dr.
Schwartz no later than midnight on Sunday, 11/17/24**
| Day 1 |
As needed: continue discussion of Grail poems assigned
week 7. New Topic: John Boorman's Excalibur
Required Readings:
DISCUSSION topics: Boorman's Morgana (including connection to Merlin and Mordred); Boorman's Grail sequence (e.g. success and failure on the Grail quest; Wasteland and Wounded King motifs) 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 Canvas). 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), pp. 105-109. Print. |
| Day 2 | First class devoted to
Bradley's feminist reworking of Arthurian legend, The
Mists of Avalon. Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon, book 1: Mistress of Magic Required Background Readings:
Required Primary Reading:
PRESENTATION:
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| Day 1 | Marion Zimmer Bradley, The
Mists of Avalon, book 2: The High Queen Required Primary Reading:
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| Day 2 | Marion
Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon, book
3: The King Stag
Required Primary Reading:
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| LOOKING AHEAD: final research paper is
due by EMAIL as a .docx ATTACHMENT (NO LINKS TO
SHAREPOINT!!) by midnight on Sunday
12/8/24. Please bring a HARD-COPY PRINT-OUT of your final paper with you to the "final exam" meeting at Dr. Schwartz's home at 5 PM on Tuesday, 12/10/24 (during our scheduled 4-7 PM exam time). |
| Day 1 | Marion Zimmer Bradley, The
Mists of Avalon, book 4: The Prisoner in
the Oak.
Required Primary Reading:
PRESENTATION: |
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| Day 2 |
Monty
Python and the Holy Grail (1974, dir.
Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, approx. 90 mins.) and
the musical Spamalot Guest Speaker: Karin Hendricks, Cal Poly Associate Professor of Theatre and
former PCPA Company member (roles include the Lady of
the Lake in Spamalot) Required Readings:
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