WiSe 22/23: PS-Medieval English Literatures: Beowulf
Lea von der Linde
Kommentar
The Old English poem Beowulf is, superficially speaking, a story about heroes, monsters, and cultures from a distant past, and yet it continues to be remarkably productive and relevant even in the twenty-first century since it raises lasting questions that reach far beyond the boundaries of its genre and presumed cultural context. In this course, we will do a close reading of the poem in translation and discuss its various themes, issues, and challenges.
The course aims at furthering the students’ understanding of the issues connected to reading and interpreting texts, especially one that is as old and culturally remote as Beowulf.
Students attending this course are expected to have read Beowulf in translation by the second week of the semester, preferably the prose translation by E. Talbot Donaldson (Donaldson, E. Talbot, trans. Beowulf: A Prose Translation. Backgrounds and Context s, Criticism. Ed. Nicholas Howe. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2002) or the translation in verse by Seamus Heaney (Seamus Heaney, trans. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. Ed. Daniel Donoghue. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 2002).
Additional readings and materials will be announced over the course of the semester.
Schließen16 Termine
Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung