Reminder: Essay #3 is due Tuesday, December 19 at 5:00 p.m.
*Note: You do not need to purchase any of the texts for this course. All texts will be available on reserve in the library, as an excerpted pdf available on Blackboard, or as a link to an eBook to which Fordham has a subscription. If you'd prefer to purchase a physical copy or audiobook, however, I am providing links.
For a list of each text we're reading with links to physical and audiobook copies, click here.
Literary
"Beowulf"
"Armes Prydein Vawr"
"Battle of Brunanburh"
Egil's Saga
Macbeth
Edward II
Don Quixote
Ivanhoe
Lohengrin
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Vinland Saga
The Hobbit
Game of Thrones
Maya and the Three
Critical
Whose Middle Ages?
Instructional
How to Read a Book
Close Readings: The Basics
They Say / I Say
Detailed descriptions of assignments can be found here.
1. Attendance and Participation — 25% of final grade
2. Weekly Readings
3. Journal Entries — 10% of final grade
4. Annotated Bibliography and Essays (5-7 pages each) — 35% of final grade
5. Midterm — 20% of final grade
6. In-Class Presentation — 10% of final grade
Our class meets on Tuesdays and Fridays from 8:30 to 9:45 AM in Dealy Hall, Room 115.
For more explicit details about assigned readings and writing assignments, visit each unit's page.
Unit One: Medieval Remembrances of the Past
Friday, September 1 Review Syllabus
Journal #1
Tuesday, September 5 Beowulf, lines 1 - 1254
Friday, September 8 Beowulf, lines 1255 - 2209
Journal #2
Tuesday, September 12 Beowulf, lines 2210 - 3182
The Battle of Brunanburh
Presentation: "England Between Empire and Nation"
Friday, September 15 Armes Prydein Vawr (The Great Prophecy of Britain)
Journal #3
Tuesday, September 19 Egil's Saga, Chapters 50 - 57
Presentation: "Real Men of the Viking Age"
Friday, September 22 Class Discussion and Exercise: ChatGPT as a Research Tool
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
Unit Two: Early Modern Reflections on the Medieval Past
Tuesday, September 26 Macbeth, Acts 1 - 3
Presentation: "The Invisible Peasantry"
Friday, September 29 Macbeth, Acts 4 - 5
Class Discussion and Exercise: Reverse Outlining
Journal #4
Tuesday, October 3 Edward II, Acts 1 - 3
Presentation: "Modern Knights, Medieval Snails, and Naughty Nuns"
Thursday, October 5 Screening and discussion of Jarman's film adaptation of Edward II
(Optional / Extra Credit)
Friday, October 6 Edward II, Acts 4 - 5
Journal #5
Tuesday, October 10 Don Quixote, Chapters 1 - 4
Presentation: "Whose Spain Is It, Anyway?"
Friday, October 13 Don Quixote, Chapters 5 - 8
Class Discussion and Exercise: Extrinsic Aids for Interpretation
Journal #6
Tuesday, October 17 MIDTERM EXAM
Unit Three: Gothic Representations of the Medieval Past and Medievalism
Friday, October 20 Ivanhoe, Chapters 31 - 33
Class Discussion and Exercises: TTS Readers; Using the OED and Semantic Analyses
Journal #7
Tuesday, October 24 Ivanhoe, Chapters 34 - 37
Presentation: "Blood Libel, a Lie, and its Legacies"
Friday, October 27 Ivanhoe, Chapters 38 - 40
Journal #8
Tuesday, October 31 Ivanhoe, Chapters 41 - 44
Presentation: "The Nazi Middle Ages"
Friday, November 3 Wagner's Lohengrin
ESSAY #1 DUE
Unit Four: Across the Pond and Beyond — American Medievalism and Its Global Expansion
Tuesday, November 7 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Preface - Chapter 5
Presentation: "The Middle Ages in the Harlem Renaissance"
Friday, November 10 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Chapters 6 - 8
Journal #9
Tuesday, November 14 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Chapters 20 - 23, 44
Presentation: "'Celtic' Crosses and the Myth of Whiteness"
Friday, November 17 Vinland Saga, Chapters 2 - 3 of Book One
Journal #10
Tuesday, November 21 The Hobbit, Chapters 1 - 5
Presentation: "Whitewashing the 'Real' Middle Ages in Popular Media"
Friday, November 24 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
Tuesday, November 28 The Hobbit, Chapters 6 - 14
Presentation: "Modern Intolerance and the Medieval Crusades"
Thursday, November 30 Screening & Discussion of HBO's Game of Thrones (Episode 1)
(Optional / Extra Credit)
Friday, December 1 The Hobbit, Chapters 15 - 19
Journal #11
Tuesday December 5 Maya and the Three
ESSAY #2 DUE
Friday, December 8 Maya and the Three
Journal #12
Tuesday, December 19 FINAL PAPER DUE