GER 312 - War, Death, and the Hero: Medieval Epics: Beowulf, Nibelungenlied, and Rolandslied

The course addresses pan-European heroic epics, including examples from Old English, Old and Middle High German, Old French, Old Spanish, and Old Icelandic. The questions we will address concern the issue of heroism, war, death, and how the individual protagonist handles questions regarding honor, God, mutual respect, happiness, and death. This course will introduce students to a humanist perspective, through the example of the European/German genre of the heroic epic and the ways in which these stories deal with war and death. By reading, interpreting, analyzing, and discussing some of the most important epics from the Middle Ages to modern day responses to these texts, students will explore how different cultures have made sense of these core human experiences in different historical moments.