Research Seminar North Sea Area Studies I: Narratives and Literatures of the North Sea Shores

Course goals

After the course, you will be able to:

• understand narrative production and circulation in the North Sea area in the Medieval period;
• understand the cultural and intellectual contexts in which such narratives were used;
• understand the connection between the language areas and the role of the languages involved in the circulation of narrative and literary texts in the North Sea area (including in languages other than the student's chosen one(s));
• apply that understanding when translating difficult Medieval Latin, Old Irish, Middle Welsh or Old English narrative and literary texts;
• undertake research pertinent to the focus in the early medieval North Sea area using primary sources in the student’s chosen language(s).   

Content

The North Sea area was the scene of travel and connection, not only between polities and institutions, between individuals and languages, but between literary and narrative traditions. The connections between the British Isles, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Continent facilitated the travel and transmission of ideas, texts, narratives, motifs, and genres throughout the medieval period. Current research poses questions of how the different narrative cultures (oral, aural and literary) affected each other, and attempts to map the routes and modes of cultural exchange. An important feature of this literary scene is that narratives and languages rarely fit into neat political borders, and the circulation of stories, oral and written, took place in vibrant multilingual environments among individuals often conversant with more than one language. 

This course examines narrative sources, verse and prose, surviving from around the North Sea area, with particular attention to networks and interconnections between the various languages.  The content will vary from year to year and will depend on the interests of the students and staff involved each year, but representative texts could include narratives of oral and written origin, verse and prose, religious and secular, sometimes as an example representing a multilingual tradition (where a narrative, such as stories about Alexander the Great, Charlemagne or Arthur, circulated in different languages).

You will translate primary literature and read and analyse secondary literature relevant to the focus of the course.
 

Additional information

For students in the first year of the RMA Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies that specialise in North Sea Area studies, this course is mandatory. Students from other AMRS tracks can choose this course in their second year. 

The entrance requirements for Exchange Students will be checked by the International Office and the Programme coordinator. Acceptance is not self-evident.

This course is a compulsory choice within the Research MA Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies and is an elective for students in the following Research master programmes: Comparative Literary Studies; Art History; Nederlandse Literatuur en Cultuur; Musicology; Gender Studies; Media, Art And Performance Studies; Religious Studies; Philosophy; Modern and Contemporary History; Linguistics and History and Philosophy of Science.