EGL 406 - Sr. Seminar (Spring): Medieval Monsters

Course Units: 1.0

How did medieval people confront their deepest fears? This senior seminar examines how medieval European authors utilized the figures of monsters and monstrosity to project and process cultural anxieties. Understandings of medieval monsters derived heavily from ancient writers like Pliny the Elder, who described strange creatures living at the edges of the known world. Medieval authors inherited and transformed these classical traditions, utilizing the monstrous to map the boundaries between theology, geography,\ culture, and social norms. From werewolves to giants, we will examine the ways in which medieval peoples used the monstrous to define humanity and to confront the unknown. Using Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s Monster Theory as our guiding framework, students will consider how the monster’s body is a cultural form that embodies difference. We will explore how medieval literature projects anxieties onto the social ‘Other’ including religious minorities, women, the poor, and the disabled. Course texts may include Bisclavret, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The King of Tars, The Travels of John Mandeville, Sir Orfeo, and Sarah Moss’s contemporary novel, Ghost Wall. Prerequisite(s): Six English courses or instructor’s permission. CQ: WS/WAC-R