King Arthur in Medieval France

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

King Arthur in Medieval France: Politics, Magic, Desire The most influential narratives of the legendary King Arthur – with famous characters and settings like Lancelot, Guinevere, Perceval, Morgana, Merlin, Camelot, and Avalon – were composed in medieval France between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The tales involve a unique blend of fantasy and realism: on the one hand, they imagined narrative worlds populated by fairies, monsters, sorcery, magic, and marvels of all kinds; on the other, they held up an honest and frequently unflattering mirror to the problems and impasses that characterized the French culture of the day, with particular attention to the politics of feudal power, controversies over inheritance, and gender relations. This course will provide a survey of the most famous and influential medieval French Arthurian texts (and in the process, an introduction to the history and culture of medieval France). Instruction will be conducted in French. All texts in this course will be read in modern French translation, and no prior experience studying the literature or culture of the Middle Ages is required.