| Unit name | Arthurian Literature |
|---|---|
| Unit code | AFACM1005 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Archibald |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Arts Faculty Office |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit is devoted to the Arthurian legend, as imagined and re-imagined by the major writers of the medieval and post-medieval period. Beginning with the first 'biography of King Arthur', by the twelfth-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, we move from the earliest Arthurian romances (by Chr�tien de Troyes) to Middle English adaptations and thence to Malory's vast (and most influential) Arthurian epic, The Morte Darthur. The similarly ambitious Arthurian 'cycle' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, itself based on Malory, provides us with one angle in our exploration of post-medieval Arthuriana. Another is provided by a selection of Arthurian novels, including Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, which takes Arthurian themes and characters into the modern industrial world.
