Textos literarios ingleses III

Rev. 10 September 2004

Course requirements and grading

Participation in class is compulsory. Since classes will be held in English, students are expected to be able to understand and express themselves in this language.

Class participation and a final exam will be required.

Syllabus

1. The medieval heritage: classical, Germanic and Christian: extracts from Germania.

2. Anglo-Saxon literature:

2.1 Poetry and history. The scop: "Widsith", "Deor" and extracts from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum.
2.2 Anlo-Saxon epic: Beowulf, "The Battle of Maldon".
2.3 Religious literature: "Elene", "Judith", "Christ and Satan", "Phoenix"

3. Medieval courtly literature:

3.1 The twelfth-century Renaissance: the rise of cities, universities and courts. The Arthurian world: extracts from Geofrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.
3.2 The Breton lay and the romance: "Sir Orfeo", Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, "The Franklin's Prologue and Tale", "The Wife of Bath's Tale".
3.3 Lyric and debate: "The Owl and the Nightingale".
3.4 The dream-allegory and the exemplum traditions: "Pearl", "The Nun's Priest's Tale", "The Pardoner's Tale".
3.5. The comic tradition: "The Land of Cockaigne", "The Miller's Tale", "The Merchant's Tale".
3.6 Auctoritas and individualism: "The Book of the Duchess", extracts from "The House of Fame" and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue".

Readings

Students will be provided with the literary texts to be commented on in class. The following basic bibliography of secondary sources will also be available.

Alexander, M.: Old English Literature. London: Macmillan, 1983.
Brewer, D.: English Gothic Literature. London: Macmillan, 1983.
Daiches, D.: A Critical History of English Literature. Vol. 1. London: Secker & Warburg, 1969.
Ford, B., ed.: The New Pelican Guide to English Literature. Vol. 1. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982.
Godden, M., & M. Lapidge, eds.: The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Greenfield, S., & D. Calder, eds.: A New Critical History of Old English Literature. New York; London: New York University Press, 1986.
Hernández Pérez, M. B.: "Art for the Artist's Sake: Sir Orfeo's Survival Strategies". In M. Brito & J. I. Oliva eds. Polifonías Textuales: Homenaje a Mª del Carmen Fernández Leal. La Laguna: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de La Laguna, 2001. 223-30.
Hernández Pérez, M. B.: "Alice de Bath o el poder de la palabra". Atlantis 24.2 (2002), 117-132.
Hernández Pérez, M. B.: "El mito de fundación troyana en la literatura inglesa". En I. García Gálvez, ed. Grecia y la tradición clásica La Laguna: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de La Laguna, 2002. 361-71.
Hernández Pérez, M. B.: Voces prologales del siglo XIV: Juan Ruiz y Geoffrey Chaucer Santa Cruz de Tenerife: La Página, 2003.
Pulsiano, P., & E. Treharne: A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
Wallace, D.: The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature: Writing in Britain, 1066-1547. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.