ENG 244 - Arthurian Masculinities: Queerness in the Age of Chivalry

Exploration of the Arthurian tradition with special emphasis on the construction and function of masculinity and gender in the world of King Arthur’s court. Readings will be drawn from medieval English and continental Arthurian narratives as well as medieval intellectual culture and contemporary gender theory and queer theory. The course will present medieval writers as dynamically engaged in the interrogation and reshaping of concepts gender in their own times and places. It will likewise investigate our present-day inheritance from the Arthurian tradition, with particular reference to the notions of “courtesy” and “chivalry.”

Satisfies a major and minor requirement in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.