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ESH6056

Magical Narratives: Transformations of Romance

Level 6 (15 credits)

From Parzival to Skyfall, The Eve of St Agnes to The Waste Land, romance is a genre which embraces some of the greatest works of literature as well as being a vehicle for some of its most seductive fictions. With its tantalising mix of magic and realism, its love of binary oppositions and its rich intertextuality, romance has also been a focus for modern theories of genre, attracting the attention of structuralist and poststructuralist critics such as Vladimir Propp, Northrop Frye, Fredric Jameson and Patricia Parker. This module traces the evolution of romance from medieval to modern times, examining magical narratives in verse, prose, drama and film while using modern genre theory to help explain the persistence and transformation of the genre. Among the authors studied are Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Jane Austen, Keats, T.S. Eliot and David Lodge. The module concludes with the James Bond film franchise as a modern reincarnation of romance.

Preparing for this Module and Approximate Costs

Set books

Click here for the seminar programme and reading list. The books you will need to obtain are:

 -        Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. Kibler and Caroll (Penguin)

-        David Lodge, Small World: An Academic Romance (Penguin/ Vintage)

-        Jane Austen, Emma (any edition)

-        Shakespeare, The Tempest (any edition, e.g. in The Norton Shakespeare)

All the other set texts, including the theory texts (mostly taken from the Modern Genre Theory anthology, ed. David Duff) will be available as e-texts via the module website.

 

Preparation

The module starts with medieval romance and is organised chronologically. A good way to prepare would be to read Marie de France’s Guigemar and/or Chrétien’s Perceval: or The Story of the Grail (in Arthurian Romances). You could also make a start on one or both of the longer novels we will be studying in later weeks: Jane Austen’s Emma and David Lodge’s Small World.

The theory text we will study first is Northrop Frye’s ‘The Mythos of Summer: Romance’, which can be found in the e-text of Modern Genre Theory in QM Library. The introduction to the anthology gives an overview of other theories we’ll study.


Primary texts costing up to £30 if purchased new in recommended editions.

Note that these costs can be often be reduced by purchasing items second-hand or borrowing them from the Library.

 
Why take
Magical Narratives: Transformations of Romance
?

·       Gain a unique overview of English literature by tracing how a single genre has developed over ten centuries, reinventing itself in remarkable ways.

·       Use modern genre theory to uncover the romance structures that underpin even seemingly 'realistic' texts.

·       Discover why James Bond is a knight of the round table and 007 films a form of magical narrative.


Learning Context Long Seminar
Semester One
Assessment
  1. Seminar Presentation (10 min), 20%
  2. Final Essay (3000 words), 80%
Mode of reassessment Standard
Contact