Medievalism

Catalog description

In English 190Q / INART 203Q students will gain an understanding of medievalism, defined by Leslie J. Workman in 1987 as "the study of the Middle Ages, the application of medieval models to contemporary needs, and the inspiration of the Middle Ages in all forms of art and thought." As this definition suggests, understanding medievalism and, thus, the popular works students know, such as Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings' benefit from learning something about the Middle Ages and the reach of its re-mediation across various kinds of expression. Therefore, ENGL 190Q / INART 203Q begins by introducing students to medieval works and a few of the forms that characterize it. More particularly, the medieval works to be studied are those combining more than one genre, media, and/or form. For example, students will read and listen to (or sing!) medieval lyrics, read and perform short medieval plays such as Robin Hood, be introduced to manuscripts of the bestiary with its illuminations, historiated letters, and scribal copying. They also will be introduced to Romanesque and Gothic architecture The first medievalist remediations--works adapted in other media--to be examined will be Book I of Spenser's Faerie Queene, with the woodcut of the Redcrosse Knight and Dryden/Purcell's King Arthur, which will introduce students to Early Modern English medievalism and how it reflects prevailing values in new combinations of old and new artistic forms. Still greater emphasis will be placed on the English Medieval Revival of the nineteenth century, including John Ruskin and the PreRaphaelites poetry, paintings, and essays, as well as William Morris's poetry, painting and Arts and Crafts Movement. Then, as now, medievalism served multiple purposes, including aesthetic, political, and social. To put into practice what students learn and to engage their creativity, one assignment involves hand crafting an art project to be accompanied by an artist statement. In the last part of the course, the focus shifts to contemporary medievalist arts and theory. In keeping with the contemporary direction, another assignment asks students to remediate their handcrafted medievalist work, or to create a new one, using digital resources to engage both their creativity and understanding of key medievalist concepts.