Annotation
The seminar is conceived as a philological, literary and historical introduction to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight against the background of a) the development of romance as genre, and b) the Alliterative Revival. Our "philology" will not entail technicalities of language structure but rather interpretive steering through the poetic texture of the romance within the limits set by its language.
An elementary knowledge of Middle English is a bonus but not a prerequisite. The analysis and discussions will be based on the original text of the poem, but will also look to its renderings into Present-Day English. The sessions will be conducted in English and Czech, as needed.