Love in the Time of Dragons

Catalog description

This course will seek to familiarize students with the tremendous impact of the concept of love during and following the Middle Ages. It will begin with a look into C.S. Lewis’ argument in The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (1936) that the focus on love popularized in the courtly romances of the 11th and 12th centuries was a more impactful ideological shift in human thought than that of the Renaissance. Once the course has built an understanding of love within this context, it will look at some of the most famous examples of the tradition across the medieval world: the potion induced affair of Tristan and Isolde; the Persian romance of Vis and Ramin; and the tortuously split desires of Lancelot as he struggles between his love for Arthur and Guinevere; and the sometimes satisfying, sometimes horrifying relationships of Marie de France. The class will compare the differences and similarities of these relationships as well as contrast them to famous relationships which precede the period (Penelope and Odysseus, Pyramus and Thisbe) and succeed it (Romeo and Juliet) to consider what elements of love captivate and endure, and what impact the medieval texts have had on our own culture. It will look at the relatable and the absurd aspects of love both within historical and contemporary contexts. The course will also look at the plight of the lovers, their emotional torture, and the necessary isolation of a courtly romance which has become even more relevant in a world where many have and are experiencing isolations of their own.