COHU 1211: Heroes and Warrior Women
Medieval and Renaissance literature consists of many "great stories" of heroes who weren't "afraid to foght": King Cynewulf of Wessex, Vainamoinen of the Finnish Kalevala, and King Arthur's knight Yvain. The heroism is highlighted by comparison to the heroic figures of non-European cultures, such as those of Cherokee legend. Heroism is not, however, the exclusive possession of the male sex, and we will read stories of heroic saints like Perpetua, Germanic warrior women like Hervor and Gudrun, and the heroines of the Tamil Tale of an Anklet and the Chinese Ballad of Fa Mulan which show the worldwide nature of female heroism.It was one of those great stories
That you can't put down at night;
The hero knew what he had to do
And he wasn't afraid to fight.
(David Crosby)
The assigned texts will be as follows:
Poems and Prose from the Old English, Burton Raffel and Alexandra
H. Olsen (Yale)
Laxdaela Saga, trans. Magnus Magnusson (Penguin)
Yvain, Chrétien de Troyes, trans. Burton Raffel (Yale)
The Inferno, Dante, trans. Mark Musa (Penguin)
Macbeth, Shakespeare (Signet)
Photocopied reader, available from bookstore
There will be eight quizzes on the readings and [80 points], a midterm [100 points], and a final exam [200 points]. There will also be two 3-5 page papers [100 points] [course total: 580 points]. Paper topics will be distributed about two weeks before each paper is due. Use of secondary sources must be documented, and any detected plagiarism will receive an automatic F. Attendance is mandatory, and more than three unexcused absences will reduce the grade one letter grade.
A Schedule of Assignments is attached; all readings should be completed before coming to class.
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS
Monday, January 7 INTRODUCTION
Wednesday, January 9 "The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas" and Chaucer's "Second Nun's Tale" (booklet)
Monday, January 14 Judith (Raffel-Olsen, 24), "Elene"
(Raffel-Olsen, 35), "Genesis A: Abraham and Isaac" (Raffel-Olsen,
73), and "Genesis B" (Raffel-Olsen, 76)
QUIZ #1
Wednesday, January 16 "The Waking of Angantyr," "The Lay of Atli," selections from sagas, and selections from Fa Mulan (booklet), "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A. D. 755" (Raffel-Olsen, 143) and Mu-lan (on-line)
Monday, January 21 MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
Wednesday, January 23 "The Lay of Sigdrifa," "Brynhild's Journey to Hell," Cherokee myths, selections from "The Tale of an Anklet" (booklet)
Monday, January 28 Laxdaela Saga, Chapters 1-39
QUIZ #2; PAPER #1 DUE
Wednesday, January 30 Laxdaela Saga, Chapters 40-78
Monday, February 4 First Hour: from The Kalevala
(booklet)
Second Hour: Midterm
Wednesday, February 6 "Sir Orfeo," "Florent and the Loathly Hag," and Marie de France, Le Fresne (booklet)
Monday, February 11 Yvain, ll. 1-2163
QUIZ #3
Wednesday, February 13 Yvain, ll. 2164-4474
Monday, February 18 Yvain, ll. 4475-6818
QUIZ #4
Wednesday, February 20 Dante - Inferno, Cantos I-VI, X-XI, and XVI
Monday, February 25 Dante - Inferno, Cantos XVIII-XX,
XXIII, XXVI-XXVIII, XXX, and XXXII-XXXIV
QUIZ #5
Wednesday, February 27 Dante - Purgatorio and Paradiso, selections (booklet)
Monday, March 4 Macbeth, Acts I and II
QUIZ #6; PAPER #2 DUE
Wednesday, March 6 Macbeth, Acts III and IV
Monday, March 11 Macbeth, Act V
QUIZ #7
Wednesday, March 13 selections from Orlando Furioso (booklet)
Last revised November 8, 2001
