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Culture and Belief 18. Enlightenments and their Literary Discontents

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2009
What is the function of literary texts in moments, from Plato to the Russian Revolution, that promise total, enlightened societal transformation? A hypothesis: literary texts do not participate easily in the new order. Literary texts are more divided in their sympathies; they recognize the value of the past order; they reveal the ways in which the repressed past resurfaces. They resist the textual simplicities of philosophy. Which do we believe: philosophy, or literature?

English 10a. Major British Writers I

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2008
A chance to read from four rich periods: Anglo-Saxon literature (unrivaled in the Europe of its time for power and sophistication); Anglo-Norman writing (Tristan and Isolde); the late fourteenth-century (where Chaucer’s is not the only exceptionally rewarding oeuvre); and from Spenser to Milton, including Shakespeare en route.

Literature and Arts A-11. Arthurian Literature: Epic versus Romance

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2008
A permanent fault-line runs throughout Western literature, between epic and romance. Epic contests territory, while romance discovers the self. Epic focuses on charismatic leaders, represents the rise and fall of societies, and depicts war across a realistic geography. Romance focuses on the energetic young, represents trials of sexual desire ending either in marriage or adultery, and has a symbolic geography. Epic and romance critique each other, without resolving this inevitable conflict. This course focuses on brilliant examples of literature about King Arthur’s court, written between the... Read more about Literature and Arts A-11. Arthurian Literature: Epic versus Romance

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