This module explores how medieval literary texts, from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to stories of King Arthur, investigate questions around gender, sexuality and race. Reading works across different genres and styles, by named and anonymous authors, students are introduced to a core set of popular medieval texts, comparing and contrasting their key themes and learning how to read them in their original forms and language. The module will focus on narratives which critically interrogate some of the following constructions: race and racisms; religion and intercultural relationships; femininity, masculinity, desire and power; monstrosity and the grotesque; the environment; and queer identities. Students will explore these narratives within their wider historical and cultural contexts, and understand how they both offer a window onto the medieval world and speak to concerns of our own age.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Demonstrate skills in close reading of early texts and ability to comment on the characteristic literary styles, genres and discourses employed by writers in the medieval period;
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of texts of the medieval period within the appropriate social, material and cultural contexts;
Identify and evaluate appropriate critical approaches to the texts studied.
Read, analyse and discuss a range of selected medieval fictional texts in Middle English.
Assessment
37896-01 : Portfolio 1,500 Word Assignment : Coursework (40%)
37896-02 : Essay 2000 Word Assignment : Coursework (60%)