ENGH 316: Topics in Myth and Literature

ENGH 316-001: Celtic Myths Retold
(Fall 2012)

10:30 AM to 11:45 AM MW

Enterprise Hall 275

Section Information for Fall 2012

ENGL 316 differs from the traditional survey of Western mythology, since it is a critical study the uses and functions of Celtic mythology in English and American literature. Despite the pervasive presence of motifs from Celtic mythology in medieval romance, both French and English, as well as the popularity of those same motifs in contemporary fantastic literature, Celtic mythology is studied with much less frequency than the mythologies of the classical or the Norse worlds. This is a result, in great part, of the fragmentary nature of survivals of these tales, already appropriated into heroic and romance legends in Ireland and Wales. Our first task, then, will be to examine these surviving fragments as a basis for our later readings.

We will read The Second Battle of Moytura, source of much of what we know about Irish mythology, selections from the Táin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle-Raid of Cooley), the tales of the Welsh Mabinogi, and the lais of Marie de France. Our modern texts will be selected from the following possibilities: The Owl Service by Alan Garner, Deirdre of the Sorrows by John Millington Synge, a selection of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder, and The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue. In addition, we will examine several critical strategies for the study of myth, including archetypal and structuralist, considering the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches. The course will require much close, careful reading, several focused, short papers (2 pp.), three longer (4-5 pp.) papers, and a final examination.

Course Information from the University Catalog