Fall 2018 Courses: ENGC30

Fall 2018 Courses: ENGC30

ENGC30H3F Studies in Medieval Literature: Medieval Travel Writing

Instructor: Kara Gaston

Meeting Time: Monday 9:00 - 11:00am & Wednesday 9:00 - 10:00am

In Fall 2018, this course will focus upon medieval travel writing. The literature of medieval travel describes both real and imagined meetings between diverse cultures. It represents travel as a source of spiritual and personal development, as a way of connecting to the ancient past, as an adventure, and as a way of mapping and managing space. Medieval travel writing ranges from the scrupulous observations of professionals—such as Arab diplomat Ibn Fadlan’s notes on his stay among the Vikings—to the wild fabrications of armchair travelers, such as Englishman John Mandeville, who imagines lands inhabited by cyclopes and headless men. This course will consider travel writing by figures from medieval Europe, North Africa, and Asia. We will ask how medieval literature anticipates modern discourses of tourism and travelogue, how medieval travelers imagined space and geography, and what kinds of discourses medieval writers used to talk about cultures different from their own. Students will have the opportunity to compare medieval works with modern travel television or literature.

Note: This is a pre-1900 course

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