Two bits of interest
Medieval Latin, teaching, exam prep, Genesis B, and various other things are pretty much eating my head right now, so it’s been a while since I’ve updated my links list, but here are two tidbits of interest that have recently come to my attention:
Online paleography exercises on the Savoyard account rolls, created by Marjorie Burghart (discovered via The Heroic Age)
Anglo-Saxon CSI: a blog devoted to “Conservation Science Investigation,” whose authors are working on finds from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery site in Sittingbourne, Kent.
Spring course – Monsters in Literature
The description for my Writing about Literature course was rushed and isn’t very good, but is here just for context:
Content: Monsters. Grotesque, scary, seductive, fierce, fascinating, or just plain weird, monsters occupy a significant place in the literary imagination. Monsters live on the borders — of cultural, racial, political, economic, religious, and sexual difference. In this course, we will encounter many different kinds of literary monster, keeping a number of questions in mind. Where are the borders between human and monster? How and when does the monster return, and under what new guise? What can monsters tell us about the desires, hopes, and fears of the cultures from which they emerge? Through our exploration of the monstrous in various genres and literary periods — from classical and medieval to 20th century literature — students will develop their skills in summarizing, close reading, literary analysis, critical thinking, argumentation, and research.
W 1/13 Syllabus and policies, begin in-class writing.
F 1/15 snopes.com, “Horrors” (excerpts). Urban legend, myth, folktale, overview.
M 1/18 Martin Luther King Holiday (no class); Response One due
W 1/20 Beowulf, lines 1-990
F 1/22 Beowulf, lines 991-1650
M 1/25 Beowulf, lines 1651-2820;
W 1/27 Beowulf, lines 2821-3182. Response Two due
F 1/29 Grettissaga (excerpt – pp 169-177 in Liuzza); draft of Paper One due; writing workshop
M 2/1 Volsunga saga (excerpts); grammar workshop; Paper One due
W 2/3 Marie de France, “Bisclavret”
F 2/5 Carter, Angela. “The Company of Wolves.” Response Three due
M 2/8 poetry by Keats, Swinburne, & Baudelaire.
W 2/10 Carter, Angela. “The Lady of the House of Love.”
F 2/12 Cohen, Monster Culture; reading literary criticism
M 2/15 Writing workshop; Response Four due
W 2/17 Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market.”
F 2/19 Freud, “The Uncanny”
M 2/22 Marie de France, “Lanval”
W 2/24 “Underground People: Migratory Folktales.” Response Five due.
F 2/26 Grendel, Chs. 1-3
M 3/1 Grendel, Chs. 4-6
W 3/3 Grendel, Chs. 7-9;
F 3/5 Grendel, Chs. 10-12. Paper Two draft due.
M 3/8 Spring Break
W 3/10 Spring Break
F 3/12 Spring Break
M 3/15 Paper Two due. The Tempest, Act I.
W 3/17 The Tempest, Act II.
F 3/19 The Tempest, Act III.
M 3/22 The Tempest, Act IV.
W 3/24 The Tempest, Act V. Response Six due.
F 3/26 Tempest, “Introduction”; Ovid (excerpt)
M 3/29 Tempest, “Florio’s Montaigne”; snopes.com, “Roast Fetus” and “Lights Out.”
W 3/31 Asbjørnsen, “East of the Sun.”
F 4/2 Angela Carter, “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon”; Response Seven due.
M 4/5 Charles Perrault, “Bluebeard.”; snopes.com, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light…”
W 4/7 Angela Carter, “The Bloody Chamber”; Paper Three draft due.
F 4/9 Research Methods: meet in Library. Paper Three due.
M 4/12 Hawthorne, “Rappacini’s Daughter.”
W 4/14 Carter, Angela. “The Erl-King.”
F 4/16 Ovid, Book V (excerpt); Margaret Atwood, “Siren Song.” Response Eight due.
M 4/19 Andersen, “The Red Shoes”; snopes.com, “Satan’s Choice.”
W 4/21 Wulfstan, “On False Gods,” in Liuzza.
F 4/23 workshop and conferences; draft of final paper due in class
M 4/26 workshop and conferences; course evaluations
Slouching Towards Extimacy 