MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS
Arts Graduate Handbook 1996
Published by Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
ENM4800/5800
Middle English literature
Jennifer Strauss
8 or 12 points + 3 hours per week (combining lectures, seminar discussions
and translation sessions) + First semester + Clayton + Prerequisites: Students
are expected to have completed successfully ENM2190/3190 and ENM3390 or their
equivalent
Synopsis The subject considers the themes of love, warfare, fortune and
free will as embodied in verse and prose versions of the stories of Troilus and
Cressida and of the Arthuriad. Narrative and ideological conventions of
medieval romance will be a major concern. With the exception of the
translations contained in King Arthur's Death, the texts will be read in
the original language.
Assessment (8 points) Assignment/s (2500 words): 40% + Essay (3500
words): 50% + Class attendance and performance: 10%
Assessment (12 points) Two exercises (3000 words): 30% total +
Commentary test (3 hours): 30% + Essay (3000 words): 30% + Class attendance and
performance: 10%
Prescribed texts
- Chaucer The Riverside Chaucer ed. Benson, OUP, 1988
- Henryson R The testament of Cresseid and other poems ed. Mcdiarmid,
Penguin, 1973
- Malory The works of Sir Thomas Malory ed. Vinaver, OUP, 1971
- Stone B (tr) King Arthur's death: Alliterative Morte Arthure and
stanziac Le Morte Arthur Penguin, 1988
- Tolkein J R R and Gordon E V (eds) Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight rev. Gordon, OUP, 1967
Recommended texts
- Burnley D A guide to Chaucer's language Macmillan, 1983
- Coote S English literature of the Middle Ages Penguin
- Davis N and others A Chaucer glossary OUP, 1979
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