Literary History 1: Antiquity and Middle Ages

Course goals

Students:

• gain knowledge of and insight in the relationship between humans, society and literature in Antiquity and the Middle Ages;
• learn to read older texts and to place them in their historical context and use elementary narratological concepts in the analysis of classical and medieval texts;
• collaborate in a professional way with peers in preparing a to-the-point, understandable and interesting oral presentation.

Content

Courses Literary History 1-4 provide an overview of literary history. You will get to know the different periods and the most important genres. We will read key texts and study their historical context. Europe is the main focus area of Literary History 1 but from the Early Modern period onwards the (literary) world comes into view. The courses prepare you well for both specialisations, Literature across Borders and Literature in Conflict. Thirty centuries of literary history, including story-telling in other media, cannot be done in four courses without making a number of choices. Sometimes a specific genre (like the tragedy) will take centre stage, sometimes a specific literary movement (like Realism) will be foregrounded, and there are thematic choices as well, as we focus on the material form in which the story is cast (oral tale – manuscript – printed book – novel – new media), and on literature in the city.

In Literary History 1, we will look at the literature of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. By focusing on heroes, the relationship between human beings and the world they live in, will become clear, as we study different kinds of texts. An epic tale may reveal how people claimed the past, whereas a romance may show its audience an example to follow and a play may present ideas about current discussions in classical or medieval society. From Antiquity, we will read Homer’s Odyssee, Sophocles’ Antigone and Virgil’s Aeneid, as well a selection of Latin poems; from the Middle Ages, Beowulf, the Voyage of St. Brendan, Chrétien de Troyes’s Yvain, and the play of Lanseloet of Denmark.
 
Older texts allow us to explore other times, worlds and ideologies only when we place the texts in their historical context and try to read them as they were understood in the time they were produced. This means looking at the conventions of the literary system (rules of play, ideology, and so on) in order to discover what changed and what remained the same

Additional information

This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you are:

• a student in the BA Literary Studies.

In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.  
 
This course is equivalent to:
Eurolit 1: Antiquity and Middle Ages (LI1V17001)

If you have already completed this course, you may not take Literary History 1 due to too much overlap in content.