English 213 - Playing Knights: Chivalry, Romance, Fantasy
Knights:Chivlry,Romanc,Fantasy
Spring
2024
01
4.00
Tess Grogan
W 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM; M 1:40 PM - 2:55 PM
Smith College
ENG-213-01-202403
Seelye 312
tgrogan@smith.edu
The knight in shining armor has long outlived the medieval chansons de geste in which s/he was born, riding forward into the modern Western, the fantasy novel, even the space opera. This course explores the premodern English chivalric romance alongside its afterlives, asking what has made this imaginary world—with its quests, duels, magicians, hippogriffs, crossdressing, lady knights—perennially entrancing for so many readers. The course considers the genre's standard features, development and influences; the course also explores the many subversions of this tradition and transgressions of its rules. Why was chivalric romance once considered dangerous reading material? What is heroism good for, and what is it less good at? What expectations and norms do these tales perpetuate, and what fantasies do they allow readers to realize? Discussions include: gender, sexuality, class and empire; Arthuriana; chivalry in art and film; cosplay; and YA fiction. Enrollment limited to 30. (E)