ENL 4218 Fall 2018 Johnson

The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is one of the most enduring (and endearing) complexes of narrative material in western culture, and it has had a powerful hold on the popular imagination for centuries. In this class, we will focus on the most voluminous and-in the eyes of some-the greatest manifestation of the legend in the English language: Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur. Sir Thomas Malory-accused thief, rapist, would-be murderer, and oft-imprisoned felon-wrote his Morte Darthur in prison during the turbulent times of the War of Roses, and thus the Morte provides contemporary political commentary through its Arthurian subject. This first major work of secular prose fiction in English is Malory's attempt to combine the separate legend cycles of King Arthur, Lancelot, and Tristan, underscoring their warrior prowess and ill-fated love stories. In this class we will read the entire Morte with special attention to the literary sources Malory used to create his English Arthuriad, such as the French Vulgate Cycle, the Prose Tristan, the Middle English Alliterative and Stanzaic Mortes. We will also consider the Morte's contemporary reception in the form of literary and film adaptation. No previous knowledge of medieval literature or language is required, but a willingness to grapple with texts in their original Middle English will be a plus.