About: Particulars and Co-ordinates

Instructor: Lisa Dickson

Class Time: T, Th 1:00-2:20

Location:  10-4560 NOTE NEW ROOM LOCATION

Office Location: ADMIN 3053

Phone: 960-5364

E-Mail: Lisa.Dickson@unbc.ca

Office Hours: T 10:00-11:00 (open), W 1:00-4:00 (by appointment only)

Course Description

In this course we will be focusing on Edmund Spenser’s epic “dark conceit,” The Faerie Queene. Originally intended to appear in twelve books, the poem exists in only six (and one fragment), each book following the exploits and spiritual development of a knight–one of whom is a woman–who represents one of the cardinal virtues: Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice and Courtesy.  For Spenser, “The generall end therefore of all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle discipline” (“Letter”).  How, Spenser asks, can one attain true virtue in a fallen world?  Replete with dragons, witches and wizards, magic and heroic exploits, The Faerie Queene is nevertheless politically-engaged and, therefore, in addition to its formal interest, provides us with an excellent opportunity to explore some of the important themes and concerns of the age, including:  the role of patronage and favour, the status of the body in relation to the spirit, the conflict between Catholic and Protestant visions of salvation, the potential and limitations of scientific inquiry, and the social role of art.  This is a senior seminar course.  We will, therefore, be structuring the class around student seminar presentations, discussion questions and class participation.  There will be some contextualizing lectures.

 

Course Texts

Spenser, Edmund.  The Faerie Queene. 2nd ed. A. C. Hamilton ed. Harlow UK: Pearson Longman, 2007. (required)

Heale, Elizabeth.  The Faerie Queene: A Reader’s Guide (Cambridge U.P.) (required).

Additional readings linked on the course outline and Reading and Assignments schedule.