ENGL 459: Modern Arthurian Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz

Oral Presentation Schedule, Winter 2008
 
 
Week  3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

There are 25 potential presentation slots spread over 13 presentation days.  Please note that no more than TWO students should sign up to present on a given presentation day.  Before signing up for a research presentation topic, follow the link to familiarize yourself with the Oral Presentation Guidelines.

All students should meet with me to discuss possible angles and report any problems they are having with research assignments ASAP and by the end of week 3 at the latest!  Failure to do so will cause an "F" to be averaged into the Research Report component of your final course grade.

NOTES: 1) Senior Project students have first pick of presentation topics.  2) Two students may sign up to present the same reading on days where only one primary reading is scheduled. In these cases, the two students should coordinate with one another AND Dr. Schwartz to ensure they focus on different aspects of the work.  On days on which more than one reading is assigned, each student should present a different reading.  3) Unless you have discussed the matter with me and obtained prior approval, you may not sign up to present a work on which you have previously completed a research project (e.g. for another class).  4) Students with prior experience using the research tools are encouraged to sign up for topics which fall early in the quarter!

Week 3    (January 23)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 2 The Once and Future King 515-639 (The Candle in the Wind).

PRESENTATIONS (up to two) on The Once and Future King.

  • Katy Wright ( on T.H. White's Pacifism)
  • Kat Gibbs (on T. H. White's Lancelot)

Week 4    (January 28-30)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Adaptations/Continuations of T. H. White:  1) Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot; 2) Disney's animated The Sword in the Stone; 3) T. H. White's own The Book of Merlyn (posthumously published conclusion to The Once and Future King).

PRESENTATIONS (up to two): 

  • Emilie Egger (on Disney's animated The Sword in the Stone)
  • The musical Camelot.
  • Calvin Cantrell (on T. H. White's The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once And Future King)
Day 2 John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (=AKA);  Introduction to the Victorian Arthur / Tennyson's The Idylls of the King (=Idylls)

PRESENTATIONS (up to two): 

  • Tennyson's Project: "Dedication" (Idylls 19-20) and/or "To the Queen" (Idylls 301-2).
  • Audrey Griffith (on Tennyson's Arthur: "The Coming of Arthur," Idylls 21-35, and "The Passing of Arthur," Idylls 288-300; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Arthur" links)
  • Amber Hudson (on Steinbeck's Writer's Block, using the material found in the Appendix to AKA, pp. 296-364)

Week 5    (February 4-6)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Tennyson's Lancelot, Guinevere and Elaine

Readings: "Lancelot and Elaine" (Idylls 168-205); "The Last Tournament" (Idylls 248-68); "Guinevere" (Idylls 269-87).

PRESENTATIONS (up to two; 2nd topic OPEN):

  • Tennyson's Lancelot as depicted in assigned readings (may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Lancelot" links).
  • Lizzie Gilbert (Sr. Project) (on Tennyson's Guinevere as depicted in assigned readings; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Guinevere" links).
  • Tennyson's Elaine as depicted in assigned reading (may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images of ELAINE from Camelot Project "Elaine of Astolat/Lady of Shalott" links).
Day 2 Victorian Sensibilities: Other Visions of Guenevere and/or Lancelot

Readings: Tennyson, "Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere: A Fragment" (1842; online reading); William Morris, "The Defence of Guenevere" (online reading); 
Tennyson, "The Lady of Shalott" (1833 and 1842 versions) (online reading); FILM First Knight (1995, dir. Jerry Zucker, 134 min.)

PRESENTATIONS (up to two):

  • Kelly Kennedy (on William Morris, "The Defence of Guenevere"; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Guinevere" links).
  • The evolution of Lancelot and Guinevere from Tennyson's "Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere: A Fragment" (1842) to the Idylls (comparative analysis).
  • The use of Arthurian themes in Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott" (in addition to the reference to Lancelot, consider e.g. the connection to the fate of the Elaine of the Idylls -- two women who meet their doom due to their infatuation with the unavailable Lancelot).  May include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images of the LADY OF SHALOTT from Camelot Project "Elaine of Astolat/Lady of Shalott" links.
  • Mary Vause (on Guinevere and/or Lancelot in Jerry Zucker's 1995 film, First Knight).

Week 6    (February 11-13)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Visions of Merlin / Fatal Women:  Vivian, Morgan, Nimue

Readings: AKA 3-47 ("Merlin"), 99-123 ("The Death of Merlin"), and 109-123 ("Morgan le Fay"); Tennyson, "Merlin and Vivien" (Idylls 142-67); Robert Buchanan, "Merlin's Tomb" (1859; online reading); Tennyson, "Merlin and the Gleam" (1889; online reading); Wildfrid Scawen Blunt, "To Nimue" (1914; online reading); Thomas de Beverley, "The Story of Nimue" (1925; online reading).

PRESENTATIONS (up to two):

  • Robin Dawley (on Merlin in assigned readings; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Merlin" links).
  • Alicia Hughes (Sr. Project) (on Nimue/Vivien in assigned readings; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Vivien/Nimue" links). 
  • Morgan in assigned readings (may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from Camelot Project "Morgan le Fay" links): 
  • Possibly? Comparative analysis of Steinbeck's and Howard Pyle's retellings of Malory's Beguiling of Merlin (NOTE --this topic may not end up panning out; if you don't find that the comparison yields anything interesting, feel free to switch to one of the other suggested topics). 
Day 2  Victorian Poets Catch-up Day; no presentations scheduled (unless they are also "catch-ups").

Week 7    (February 18-20)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Visions of the Grail

Readings: Tennyson, "The Holy Grail" (Idylls 206-30); Tennyson, "Sir Galahad" (1834; online reading); James Russell Lowell, "The Vision of Sir Launfaul" (1838; online reading); William Morris, "Sir Galahad: A Christmas Mystery" and "The Chapel in Lyoness" (both 1858; online readings); Eugene Field, "The Vision of the Grail" (1905; online reading); Sophie Jewett, "The Dwarf's Quest: A Ballad" (1905; online reading).

PRESENTATIONS (up to two):

  • Lindsey Giordano (on Tennyson's Grail and/or Grail Hero[s]; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from the Camelot Project "Holy Grail," "Galahad" or "Perceval" links).
  • Carla Benevedo (on the Grail and/or Grail Hero(s) in one or more of the other assigned texts; may include relevant Pre-Raphaelite illustrations and/or images from the Camelot Project "Holy Grail," "Galahad" or "Perceval" links).
  • For the operatically inclined: the influence of and selections from Wagner's opera Parsifal.   NOTE: Any student selecting this topic should like (or at least be comfortable with) opera, and, ideally, should be familiar with THIS opera; s/he will be responsible for selecting some arias/scenes to screen and/or play for class, as well as some reading selections to be placed on e-reserve.
Day 2 Visions of the Grail, wrap-up; John Boorman's 1981 film, Excalibur

PRESENTATIONS (up to two ONLY if all days have at least one already):

  • Jenn Wiens (on Boorman's Morgan).
  • Brady Sullivan (on Boorman's Grail sequence).
  • another aspect of Boorman's Excalibur (topic to be determined in consultation with Dr. Schwartz).

Week 8    (February 25-27)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon
Reading: MOA ix-xi and 1-231 (Mistress of Magic). 

PRESENTATIONS (up to two; second presenter should sign up ONLY if at least one person has signed up for each of the other presentation dates):

  •  Kirsten Vinther (Sr. Project) (focus on Morgan)
Day 2 Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

Reading: MOA 235-447 (The High Queen). 

PRESENTATIONS (up to two; second presenter should sign up ONLY if at least one person has signed up for each of the other presentation dates):

  •  Marina Barakatt (focus on Guinevere and Christianization)

Week 9    (March 3-5)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

Reading: MOA 453-651 (The King Stag). 

PRESENTATIONS (up to two; second presenter should sign up ONLY if at least one person has signed up for each of the other presentation dates):

  • OPEN   
Day 2 Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

Reading: MOA 655-876 (The Prisoner in the Oak). 

PRESENTATIONS (up to two; second presenter should sign up ONLY if at least one person has signed up for each of the other presentation dates):

  •  Jackie Gehrke-Jones (focus TBA)

Week 10    (March 10-12)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 MIDTERM EXAM
Day 2 The 1974 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (90 mins.)

PRESENTATION: one only on Monty Python's Holy Grail

  •  Allison Baker (Sr. Project) (focus TBA)

Contents of this and all linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2008