Thursday 10/20: Ivanhoe: Chivalry and History

Zoom link to connect to our 6pm class can be found here. If you are prompted for a passcode, it is 992128

To watch/listen to the class, go here.

Read before class:

Walter Scott, Ivanhoe (Ch. XXIX, below)

"Medievalism and the Gothic Discourse in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe" (excerpts, below)

Prepare or organize before class:

Walter Scott is writing about history without writing history. What does Scott do to make the text feel historic?

In our supporting documents, Moura, points out that "the allure of a bygone age does not require historical accuracy" (100). Does Scott do any damage to our understanding of history by diverging from accurate depictions toward more traditional literary descriptions? Does literature, and its authors, have any responsibility to accuracy if they are going to call their works 'historical'?

Both our reading and our supporting essay talk about chivalry. Chivalry is described romantically by Ivanhoe as both a wartime virtue and a way of life off the battlefield. Is chivalry different from our modern understandings of virtue on and off the battlefield? In what ways is chivalry an accurate portrayal of a soldiers duties and in what ways is it inaccurate?