ELL2014F 2007

ELL2014F.8: Wed and Thur 3rd period (10am)
ELL2014F.9: Thur 6th and 7th (2-3.30pm)

This seminar will survey various examples of romance in medieval and Renaissance literature, including motifs such as the quest, folklore, magic and the knightly hero. The course focus is on the operation of romance as a highly structured and specific form, and will use various theoretical approaches; however we will also look at the significance of romance for medieval society. The arrangement of works is chronological, so we can gain a sense of how the form has developed over time.

NB please note that we are NOT covering Shakespeare's Tempest: its presence in early versions of the course description is an error.

Please don't be put off by difficulties of language; I am far more interested in the story than the language, and, although we will obviously do a fair amount of close reading from the original texts, it is perfectly in order for you to refer to translations of the earlier works. I have suggested some modernised versions in the bibliography.We are also dealing with some very long works - again, don't panic! I will specify particular passages for close analysis, and you will not be expected to be familiar with large volumes of material.

Since I am interested in form here, there is an opportunity in your second essay for you to compare medieval works we have covered with various more recent equivalents in literature and film. I feel that you'll probably learn a fair amount about romance from trying to argue how, for example Lord of the Rings or Keat's "Belle Dame Sans Merci" exemplify or adapt aspects of the original form. The choice of modern text is up to you here, and you are welcome to choose favourite with which you are familiar; a list of suggestions is up with the topic. Please note that, if you are interested in a modern romance text which is not on my list, please consult with me about the modern text you plan to use, just to make sure you're not wasting time questing after red herrings.

Course requirements

You are required to attend at least 75% of tuts; if you are going to be absent, please e-mail or sms me in advance to excuse yourself. I reserve the right to mark you absent and ask you to leave the class if you have not done the necessary preparation set for any tutorial.

In addition to attendance, you are required to write three short exercises and two long essays. I will follow standard English dept. procedure in taking 10% off your essay mark for work submitted up to a week late; essays handed in more than a week after deadline will be accepted for DP purposes, but will receive a mark of 0. Exercises cannot be handed in late, as we'll discuss the readings in detail in class, and there's no real point in you writing the exercise after that.

This seminar has a DP requirement. If you have not submitted all the required work or have attended too few of the seminars without good reason, I may give you an overall DPR symbol for the course, which means you will receive a mark of 0, not an average of the work you have actually done. This means you will fail ELL214F as a whole.

Mark Breakdown

Essay 1 = one-third of final mark
Essay 2 = one-third of final mark
Average of exercise marks = one-third of final mark.

Essays and exercises

Topics for essays and exercises are available here. Please note that there are two different versions of this seminar: make sure you have the correct deadline for your seminar, not the other one.

Short exercises (three of them) are around 600 words long, and are simply a response to a particular critical reading. I have found it useful to require students to write these, as a way of coming to grips with theoretical concepts. You are asked to address particular aspects of the reading’s argument, and are not expected to do additional research. This is more of an extended comprehension than an actual essay.

Essays (two of them) are around 1600 words long, and focus on the actual romances rather than critical work. While I do expect you to do some background reading, this should not dominate your essay: I am far more interested in your own response to the text than in your ability to hash together comments from critical sources.

I do not under any circumstances tolerate plagiarism: make sure your debts to critical works are fully acknowledged both in your bibliography and in the text of your essay, each time you use an idea or a quote from another source. See my discussion of plagiarism on the Common Errors page.

Extensions: I don’t mind granting extensions if you have a good reason for requesting one, and if you do so IN ADVANCE. I respond really, really badly to requests for extensions on the actual day of the deadline. Please also note that I CANNOT grant extensions on the short exercises, as we discuss the material in class on the hand-in day; the only exception to this rule is if you are ill on the hand-in day and absent from class, but I require a doctor's note, please.

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