Arthur through the Ages

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

King Arthur is perhaps the most well-known figure from medieval European lore. The sheer number of movies, TV shows, and books about Arthur and his court indicate a continued and flourishing interest in Arthurian legend. But what are these contemporary writers re-making? Who exactly was Arthur? The goal of this course is not to discover the “real,” historical Arthur (although this question will certainly arise during the semester), nor is it to find the most “accurate” source for the Arthurian legend. Rather, this course aims to explore Arthur from two different angles. First, we will examine some of the foundational medieval texts that discuss Arthur and his beloved Camelot: Chretien de Troyes’s Arthurian Romances and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. Second we will use more modern works—such as Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1596), Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Guy Ritchie’s film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), and the short story collection Sword, Stone, Table (2021)—as springboards for discussing how and why people continue to write about Arthur. Although the course centers around Arthur’s character, we will of course discuss Guinevere, Merlin, Lancelot, and other residents of Arthur’s court throughout the semester.