Syllabus
E 326K // Literature of the Middle Ages in Translation // Mysteries of the Grail
Instructor: Dr. Christopher Taylor
Email: chris_taylor@utexas.eduInstructor: Dr. Christopher Taylor
Unique #: 34530
Semester: Spring 2016
Meets: T/R 2-3:30
Office Hours: T/R 12-1, W 10:30-12, and by appointment (PAR 110)
Description: Poised at the overlap of faith and magic, the mystery of the holy grail remains one of the most recognizable motifs found within western literature. From its mysterious Celtic origins to its central place in the famed legend of King Arthur, the ambiguous symbol of the grail—what is it? a vessel, stone, dish?— came to represent a binding of sacred and secular histories, even as many of the most famous grail narratives remain bizarre, opaque, and unfinished.
In this course we take on the irresolvable mystery of the grail, as imagined—and re-imagined—by authors both medieval and post-medieval. Our inquiry into the most outstanding versions of this communally-authored legend will provide a sustained investigation of medieval symbolism as well a focused study of literary form, pre-novel. In addition to our exploration of primary literary texts (mostly 12th- and 13th-century), students will survey important historical and cultural developments contemporary to these narratives (Eucharistic ritual, chivalry, romance genre) along with post-medieval adaptations of the grail legend. Our attempts to assess the place of the grail narrative in the larger scope of literary history will circle back to the following questions: what cultural fantasies does the grail reflect, ignore, inaugurate, and inspire?
Texts:
Course Objectives:
Requirements & Assignments:
Schedule:
Readings due on assigned date
*Indicates reading to be found in course packet
**Indicates reading to be found on Canvas (under “Files”)
I hold the right to alter the schedule as befits the needs of the class. I’ll try not to though.
T 1/19 – Intro; Class Structure
Read: Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain*
R 1/21 – Geoffrey of Monmouth; Arthurian History; Sign up for
Read: Finke and Shichtman, “The Narrative Logic of Medieval History”*
Vinaver, “The Discovery of Meaning”*
Introduction to Perceval
T 1/26 – History vs. Romance
Read: Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval through “The Grail”
Blazina, “Chivalry”*
R 1/28 – Chrétien’s Perceval
Read: Perceval (at least up to “The Wondrous Bed”)
T 2/2 – Perceval; Scalar
Read: Finish Perceval; Read Peredur*
R 2/4 – Perceval & Peredur
Read: Work on Continuations Project
T 2/9 – Field Trip! The Crusader Bible (Class meets @ Blanton)
Read: Work on Continuations Project
R 2/11 –The Crusader Bible (Class meets @ Blanton)
Read: Check out Estoire chapter summaries** and read chapters 1-7; 12-14
*Continuations Projects due by 2/15 @ 11:59 PM*
T 2/16 – Continuations; Estoire del Saint Graal; Sacred and Secular Histories
Read: Estoire chapters 20-22, 28, 30-32, 39-41
R 2/18 – Estoire as Post-Prologue; Genealogy
Read: Queste del Saint Graal through “The Hermit Explains the Temptation of Perceval”
T 2/23 – Queste del Saint Graal: Introducing Galahad
Read: Queste through “Perceval Meets His Sister”
R 2/25 – The Quest for the Holy Grail
Read: Finish Queste; Read chapter summaries for Post-Vulgate Quest**
T 3/1 – Queste; Endings and Beginnings
Read: Perlesvaus, Branches I-VI (skimming II-V); Rubin* on Eucharist, 1-14
R 3/3 – Perlesvaus
Read: Perlesvaus, Branches VII-IX; Rubin*, 129-147 (esp. Grail section)
T 3/8 – Perlesvaus
Read: Finish Perlesvaus
R 3/10 – Perlesvaus
Read: Parzival up to Book X (pp. 3-212)
*Response Paper One Due by Friday*
T 3/15 – SPRING BREAK
R 3/17 – SPRING BREAK
T 3/22 – Parzival
Read: Parzival, Books X-XII (pp. 212-262)
R 3/24 – Parzival
Read: Parzival, Books XIII-XIV (pp. 263-306), Cathar
T 3/29 – Parzival
Read: Finish Parzival; Pope, “Persia and the Holy Grail”*
R 3/31 – Parzival
Watch: Parsifal
T 4/5 – Parsifal
Read: TBD Readings on Wagner, Parsifal, Nationalism, Anti-Semitism**
R 4/7 – Parsifal
Read: Entwistle, The Arthurian Legend in the Literatures of the Spanish Peninsula**
Besamusca, Summary of the Queeste vanden Grale**
*Response Paper Two Due by Sunday*
T 4/12 – Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese; Introduce Final Project
Read: “The Grail Quest” from Diu Crône*
Malory, “The Tale of Balyn and Balan,” from Morte d’Arthur**
R 4/14 – Gawain Meets the Grail in Diu Crône; Malory and the Dolorous Stroke
Read: Tennyson, “The Holy Grail,” from Idylls of the King*
Marino, “Tennyson, White, and Following Writers’ Humanist Views of the Grail”**
T 4/19 – Idylls of the King: Tennyson’s Victorian Medievalism
Read: Selection from Weston, “From Ritual To Romance”**
R 4/21 – Weston, From Ritual to Romance
Read: Eliot, “The Waste Land”*
*Project Proposal Due Sunday Night by 5pm*
*Make sure to watch Monty Python
T 4/26 – Eliot’s Modernist Wasteland
Watch: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
R 4/28 – Monty Python
*Response Revision Due Friday by 5pm*
T 5/3 – Presentations
R 5/5 – Presentations
*Proposed Timeline Due on Day of Presentation*
*Annotated Bibliography Due Monday, 5pm*
*Project Abstract Due Wednesday, 5pm*