English 190
Research Seminar: Monsters, Exiles, and Outlaws in Medieval Literature
| Section | Semester | Instructor | Time | Location | Course Areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Fall 2017 | Hobson, Jacob
|
TTh 9:30-11 | 279 Dwinelle |
Book List
Bernard Scudder, trans.: The Saga of Grettir the Strong; Bjork, Robert E., ed. & trans.: Old English Shorter Poems: Wisdom and Lyric; Byock, Jesse L., trans.: The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki; Hobsbawm, E. J.: Bandits; Knight, Stephen and Ohlgren,Thomas, eds.: Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales; Kunz, Keneva, trans.: The Vinland Sagas; Liuzza, R. M., ed. & trans.: Beowulf; McKim, Anne, ed.: The Wallace: Selections; Palsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul, trans.: Eyrbygga saga
Other Readings and Media
Shorter readings and additional secondary literature will be made available on bcourses.
Description
This course focuses on murderers, monsters, and thieves. Zombies, although not our main focus, also arise. Such figures are excluded from society and cut off from their fellow human beings, whether because they have committed an unpardonable crime or are undead. This course examines how that exclusion helps to define the society doing it as well as the outcasts themselves. What crimes are unpardonable, and why? Why are some outcasts exiled or outlawed, some treated as monsters, and some actually monstrous? What does it mean to be an outlaw, someone literally outside the law? Over the course of the semester, we will read texts from medieval England and Scandinavia featuring such characters, with an eye toward their rhetorical construction as a society's insiders and outsiders.
This section of English 190 satisfies the pre-1800 requirement for the English major.
Please read the paragraph about English 190 on page 2 of the instructions area of this Announcement of Classes for more details about enrolling in or wait-listing for this course.
Other Recent Sections of This Course
fall, 2019 |
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190/6 |
Research Seminar: Literature on Trial: Romanticism, Law, Justice |
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190/8 |
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190/9 |
Research Seminar: Colossi of PoMo: Landmarks of American Postmodernism |
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spring, 2019 |
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190/2 |
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Research Seminar: California Books and Movies Since World War I |
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190/6 |
Research Seminar: Carnal Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Literature |
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190/7 |
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190/8 |
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190/9 |
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190/10 |
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190/11 |
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fall, 2018 |
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190/2 |
Research Seminar: Laughter and Vision: Explorations in the Novel of Ideas |
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190/3 |
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190/7 |
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190/9 |
Griffin, Ben
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190/10 |
No instructor assigned yet.
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190/11 |
No instructor assigned yet.
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190/12 |
Research Seminar: California Books and Movies Since World War I |
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190/13 |
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190/14 |
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spring, 2018 |
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190/1 |
Research Seminar: Trials of Literature: Romanticism, Justice, and the Law |
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190/2 |
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190/3 |
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190/4 |
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190/5 |
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190/6 |
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190/7 |
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190/9 |
Research Seminar: The Faerie Queene: The Ethics of Imagination |
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190/10 |
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190/11 |
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190/12 |
Research Seminar: California Books and Movies Since World War I |
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190/13 |
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fall, 2017 |
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190/1 |
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190/2 |
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190/3 |
Research Seminar: Another Day in Purgatory: Irish Literature and the Afterlife |
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190/6 |
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190/8 |
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190/9 |
Research Seminar: Historiography and Narrative: Literature and the Interstices of History |
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190/10 |
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190/11 |
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190/12 |
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spring, 2017 |
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190/5 |
Research Seminar: Writing a World in Crisis: Medieval and Modern |
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190/6 |
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190/7 |
Research Seminar: Place-Love: Fiction and the Melancholy of Form |
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190/8 |
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190/9 |
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190/10 |
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190/11 |
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190/13 |
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