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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by an unknown author in the late 14th century in a West-Midland dialect of Middle English. The text has survived in a unique manuscript and was only re-discovered by modern readers in the 19th century and became, with the 1925 edition by E.V. Gordon and J.R.R. Tolkien, a central text for students of medieval literature. We will study this complex and sophisticated poem in detail and explore its many facets that bring us into contact with the rich tradition of medieval chivalric culture, ideology, and literature and also discuss its adaptation into other media such as film (Gawain and the Green Knight[1973, directed by Stephen Weeks], Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [1984, directed by Stephen Weeks], and The Green Knight [2021, directed by David Lowery]) and graphic novel (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight[2021, John Reppion and Mark D. Penman].
Texts: Please make sure you have read SGGK at least in translation by the beginning of term. There are several online/electronic editions and translations available. They can be used if they have a numbering of lines that corresponds to the printed editions. The Tolkien/Gordon edition (revised by Norman Davis) is still the authoritative edition of the Middle English text: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (Edited by J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon. 1967. Second edition. Re-edited by Norman Davies. First edition 1925. Oxford: Clarendon Press.) Recommended translations are by Larry D. Benson (2012) or by JRR Tolkien himself. Benson's translation is actually a bilingual edition with the original text and facing close verse translation. It stays very close to the original text and gives you therefore a good 'feel' of the original text. PDF is available on Moodle. |
