ENG 340 - Masculinities in Early British Literature and Beyond

Like other sections of ENG 340, this section offers an introduction to some of the most famous works and figures of early British literature. Unlike other sections of ENG 340, this course focuses on the texts of early British literature where masculinity was defined, redefined, and debated, often with anxious intensity. That intensity arose, in part, from the tension between believing that the behavior of men (or at least the behavior of real men) will be naturally, always “masculine”; while also believing that this seemingly natural, unchanging “masculinity” needs endless explaining and reinforcing. As a group, the texts of ENG 340 suggest that singular masculinity may not exist at all-thus the plural in the title of this course: “masculinities.”

Throughout a vast sweep of literary history, this section of ENG 340 remains alert to the present-thus the final word in the title of this course: “beyond.” Informed by their study of early British literature and the cultures that produced it, students will analyze artifacts of current culture and its preoccupations with masculinity. They will ask how much texts of the past can clarify the present, either as forebears of dominant assumptions in 2025 or as forgotten alternatives that can open fresh insights into our art, our politics, our everyday conversations.

Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies the Historical Approaches requirement of the English major and minor.