Classical Myths and Legends
Gabriel Schenk, Larry Swain
Lectures
This course places the principle Classical myths and legends in their cultural and historical context, with some attention to discussion of su...
Introduction to Gothic
Nelson Goering, Paul Peterson
Lectures
The Gothic language, rich in vocabulary and archaic in structure, has survived in the earliest substantial corpus of texts written in any Germ...
Introduction to Old English
Michael Drout
Lectures
Old English (sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon) is the earliest recorded stage of English, spoken in Britain during the early Middle Ages. ...
Introduction to Old Norse
Carl Edlund Anderson
Lectures
Old Norse is a term used broadly to refer to languages and dialects of Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia, and sometimes more specifically to...
Intro to Germanic Philology I
Nelson Goering, Paul Peterson
Lectures
This class offers a survey of the older Germanic languages including Gothic, Old Norse, and Old English, as well as the content and contexts o...
Intro to Germanic Philology II
Nelson Goering, Paul Peterson
Lectures
Building on the survey of the Germanic family in Germanic Philology I, this class will provide an introduction to Germanic comparative philolo...
Language Invention Through Tolkien
Andrew Higgins
Lectures
There are arguably two elements of Tolkien’s creative work that readers tend to skip over to “get to the good parts.” One of these is Tolkien’...
Lewis and Tolkien
Corey Olsen
Lectures
What similar ideas did Lewis and Tolkien explore? How are they similar in the exploration of these ideas? How are they different?
C.S. Lewis ...
Literary Copernicus: The Cosmic Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft
Amy H. Sturgis, Gabriel Schenk, Maggie Parke
Lectures
What inspired Lovecraft’s imagination? How has Lovecraft’s work impacted popular culture today?
In tales such as “The Call of Cthulhu” and At ...
Norse Myths and Sagas
Carl Edlund Anderson
Lectures
This course provides an introduction to the myths and sagas of medieval Scandinavia. It examines the roots of this literature in the meeting o...
The Meaning of 'Star Wars'
Amy H. Sturgis
Lectures
As the Star Wars franchise thrives in its fifth decade, speaking to audiences across the globe and generations, we should consider the causes ...
The Return of King Arthur
Gabriel Schenk
Lectures
After King Arthur is seemingly killed by Mordred at the end of Le Morte Darthur, the fifteenth-century author Sir Thomas Malory reports, “somm...
The Story of 'The Hobbit'
Corey Olsen
Lectures
What were the literary precursors to The Hobbit? What inspired Tolkien to write The Hobbit?
This course examines the life of J.R.R. Tolkien’s...