Weeks 4-6

1. Cite some variations in the Loathly Lady fabula across the three tales in your Reader. Focus on the conditions by which the lady is either beautiful or ugly, and the actions of the knight/king/"hero"...

2.  The Wife of Bath's Tale is considered by some critics to indicate that Chaucer may have been a feminist.  Why might they believe this?  Do you agree?  Remember to cite evidence from the text or some other source.

3.Hahn's essay (see critical reader)on The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle identifies the motif of the loathly lady, but arguesit has a different purpose than asserting the feminine.  What does he think the function of the story is?

4. In the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean sonnets, how can we define "conceits"?

5. Discuss what you think is the most striking or outrageous example.

6. What does Revard (1997) suggest about the relationship between language, sex, power and transgression in the English Renaissance?

Weeks 1-3

1. What genres do the following texts belong to?

Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).

2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?

3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to site from the original texts).

4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.

5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).

6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?

7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?

8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).

Welcome to Lit/Desire 2013 Three.

Let the fun begin!

best
Paul