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Syllabi:
EN 698: Beowulf
W
2-4 Gasson
207
Richard Schrader
Carney
460
Hours WF
4:15-5 and by appt.
The course involves a
close
reading of Beowulf in the original Old English. We will also consider the work as
both
a major contribution to heroic literature and a significant artifact of
Anglo-Saxon culture. The
poem, in
its entirety, will be assigned in George Jack's student-friendly edition,
with
selected lines to be translated in class.
Students will be encouraged to consult (in translation) analogous
texts
from the same era and locale, in order to understand better the poem's
relationship to early Northern histories, sagas, folklore, and poetic
legend. Such works are the
basis
for traditional historicist criticism of Beowulf, like J. R. R.
Tolkien's famous defense of the poem's dragon and troll
family.
Thanks to recent
critics (and
translator Seamus Heaney), few doubts remain about the poem's
sophistication
and greatness. Feminists,
New
Historicists, and others (some of them quite traditional in outlook) have
enriched the interpretive literature.
Discoveries that textual scholars have made about the unique
manuscript
of Beowulf force us to question some common readings of the work,
while
keeping alive perennial controversies over its date and original
audience. Andy Orchard's up-to-date
Critical
Companion to Beowulf, the other assigned text, guides the student to
all
relevant criticism and provides discussion-provoking commentary of its
own.
The student's
translations
when called upon, participation in class discussion, and term paper will
be
weighed about equally when the final grade is decided. EN 699 (or a reading knowledge of
Old
English) is a prerequisite for the course, which is open to both graduate
and
undergraduate students.
Required texts: George
Jack,
ed., Beowulf: A Student Edition; Andy Orchard, A Critical
Companion
to Beowulf.
Assignments:
1. Jan. 18:
Introductory.
2. Jan. 25: Beowulf, lines 1-228. Manuscript and date (Orchard, pp.
4-9,
12-25), genealogy and myth (pp. 98-105), Grendel/Cain/Flood/giants (pp.
137-42),
pagan backslide (pp. 151-53).
3. Feb. 1: Lines 229-455. Coastguard, Wulfgar, and Hrothgar
(pp.
203, 208-15).
4. Feb. 8:
Lines 456-687.
Folklore and
history (pp. 119-23), Unferth (pp. 247-55), Wealhtheow and women (pp.
219,
8n50).
5. Feb. 15:
Lines 688-915.
Grendel II
(pp. 189-92), Sigemund and Heremod (pp. 105-14).
6. Feb. 22:
Lines 916-1136a.
Hrothulf
(pp. 244-47), Finn (pp. 173-87); Finnsburh handout.
7. Mar. 1:
Lines 1136b-1357a.
Finn and
Wealhtheow (pp. 219-22), Hygelac's raid (pp. 114-16, 134), Grendel's
mother
(pp. 187-89, 192-95).
8. Mar. 15:
Lines 1357b-1590.
Monster-mere (pp. 155-58), descent and fight (pp.
195-99).
9. Mar. 22:
Lines 1591-1816. The
hilt
(pp. 199-202, 139-40 again), Hrothgar's sermon (pp.
158-62).
10. Mar. 29:
Lines 1817-2040.
Farewells
(pp. 216-18), Offa and Thryth (pp. 222-23), Ingeld (pp.
240-44).
11. Ap. 5: Lines 2041-2270a. Ingeld, more recapitulation (pp. 223-27), Part II at 2200, last survivor (pp. 227-28).
12. Ap. 12:
Lines 2270b-2509.
Dragon
and treasure (pp. 149-51, 256-61), Herebeald and Haethcyn (pp. 116-19),
Ongentheow (pp. 228-32).
13. Ap. 19:
Lines 2510-2723.
Fight with
dragon (pp. 232-37), Wiglaf (pp. 261-62).
14. Ap. 26:
Lines 2724-2957.
Death of
Beowulf, speechifying (pp. 203-08): messenger's
speech.
15. May 3:
Lines 2958-3182.
Messenger,
curse and destiny (pp. 153-55, 262-64), funeral and the classics (pp.
132-34,
36-39).
May 8:
Papers due by noon.
EN
887 Introduction to Advanced
Research &
nbsp; Gasson
201 F
2-4(:30)
Prof.
Richard Schrader
Office Carney 460, hours WF 4:15-5 and by
appt.
The
course introduces students to the essential resources of literary
scholarship. They first
learn how
to find information on all areas of literary study, drawing upon
traditional
library materials and the newer electronic media. In this practical part of the course, with the help of
Harner’Äôs Literary Research Guide
students become familiar with the library's print resources and
databases, and
with information elsewhere on the Web.
Next
is a long sequence dealing with the creation and reception of literary
works: how the text is made
and
influenced by printing practices, market forces, copyright laws,
censorship,
and theories of editing.
Textual
problems (and the problem of what is
a text) will be considered in relation to representative books and
manuscripts
from various periods of English and American
literature.
The
questions raised by these matters naturally bear upon one’Äôs
scholarly/critical
approach to the text as a reader.
The assigned theory will show, among other things, the joint
interests
of post-structuralist critics and traditional textual
scholars.
Bibliographical
exercises will help students become skillful at compiling information and
tracking down connections.
Apart
from that and the reading, most of their time outside the classroom will
be
occupied by a research paper.
In
past years, they have made creative scholarly use of the unpublished
archival
material that abounds in area libraries (including our own): manuscripts, letters, diaries,
and the
like. Or else they have put
together from secondary sources an original essay on a textual,
biographical,
or historical matter.
Required
texts: R. D. Altick, The
Art of
Literary Research, 4th edn.; J. L. Harner, Literary Research
Guide,
3rd or 4th edn.; J. Gibaldi and W. S. Achtert, MLA Handbook for
Writers of
Research Papers, 5th edn.; J. Gibaldi, ed., Introduction to
Scholarship
in the Modern Languages and Literatures, 2nd
edn.
Recommended
texts: M. H. Abrams, A
Glossary
of Literary Terms, 7th edn.; W. P. Williams and C. S. Abbott, An
Introduction to Bibliographical and Textual Studies, 3rd edn.
On
reserve: P. Gaskell, A
New
Introduction to Bibliography; D. C. Greetham, Textual Scholarship:
An
Introduction; S. Wells et al., eds., William Shakespeare . . .
Original
Spelling Edition; R. D. Altick, The Scholar Adventurers; B. A.
Shailor, The Medieval
Book;
J. Culler, The Pursuit of Signs; D. C. Greetham, Scholarly
Editing: A
Guide to Research; the assigned articles and
chapters.
Updates
to Harner:
<http://www-english.tamu.edu/pubs/lrg>.
Grading
system: bibliographical
exercise
(20%), reference exercises (20%), discussion and reports (10%), term
paper
(50%).
1.
Jan.
20:
Introductory.
2.
Jan. 27: Enumerative bibliography I . Standard reference works and
their
uses. Read Altick, pp. 1-54,
183-204, 247-57. Bring
Harner to
class.
3.
Feb. 3: Enumerative bibliography II. Reference works continued; how to
make
a bibliography. Your author
to be
chosen or assigned for the bibliography exercise. Read Altick, pp. 155-82, 205-18. Bring Harner.
4.
Feb. 10: 1st hour: the publication of
articles;
instructions for term paper.
2nd
hour: electronic resources I
(Gasson 06). Bring Harner
and
Altick.
5.
Feb. 17: 1st hour: electronic resources II
(Gasson 06). 2nd hour:
archives
and MSS (Burns Library).
Bibliography
due.
6.
Feb. 24: Analytical and descriptive
bibliography
I. How a book is made; the
hand
printing press; 16th-century printing practices. Read Shailor, pp. 28-36, 53-61, 107-10.
7.
Mar. 3: Analytical and descriptive
bibliography
II. Legal regulation of
printing;
copyright; early history of publishing; literary property. Consult "uncensored"
1
Henry IV in original spelling edition, epilogue of 2 Henry
IV. Reference exercise
due.
8.
Mar. 17: Textual bibliography. The transmission of the
text. Read Altick, pp. 62-88; Foster,
"Master W.H., R.I.P."; Greetham, "Textual
Scholarship" (in
Gibaldi).
9.
Mar. 24: General problems of editing; the
locating and handling of primary material dealing with lives and
letters. Recommended: Altick, Scholar
Adventurers, ch. IV ("Hunting for Manuscripts"). Read McGann, A Critique,
pp.
15-49. Report: Pizer,
"Self-Censorship and Textual Editing" in McGann, Textual
Criticism,
pp. 144-61.
10.
Mar. 31: Text and hypertext. Read Landow, Hypertext,
pp.
1-34. Reports: Tanselle,
"Textual Criticism and Deconstruction"; Greetham,
"[Textual]
Criticism and Deconstruction"; Miller, "The Ethics of
Hypertext"; Moulthrop, "Traveling in the Breakdown Lane: A
Principle
of Resistance for Hypertext."
11.
Ap.
7: Term paper conferences
(my
office).
12.
Ap. 21: Authorship and influence. Read Altick, pp. 88-135; T. S.
Eliot,
"Tradition and the Individual Talent"; Foucault, "What is
an
Author?" in Harari, Textual Strategies, pp. 141-60. Reports: Stillinger, Multiple
Authorship and the Myth of Solitary Genius, pp. 3-24; Walker,
"Feminist Literary Criticism and the
Author."
13.
Ap.
28: Canonicity and
historical
criticism. Read Altick, pp.
135-54; Scholes, "Canonicity and Textuality" (in Gibaldi);
Patterson,
"Historical Scholarship" (in same). Reports: Bloom, "An Elegy for the Canon";
Pollitt,
"Canon to the Right of Me."
May 5:
Papers
due by noon.
For questions or
comments,
please contact Richard
Schrader.