Fall 2013
ENGL 312/MDST 312
Scandinavian Fantasy Worlds: Old Norse Sagas and Skyrim
Instructor: Ellard, D-Janet
This program has two goals.
First, it introduces students to fantasy as both mental concept and
driving pressure in gamer culture and 2nd, with such paradigms, it views
why and how medieval Scandinavia works as a locus of contemporary Anglo-American
fantasy. To those ends, students will read selections from Icelandic sagas and
Norse mythology (in translation) because they play different quests within Skyrim.
As the course begins by identifying moments of intersection between your
worlds from the sagas as well as Skyrim (inclement environments, supernatural
figures, mythologies), the program isn’t in almost any means designed to map the previous
to the latter. The objective of creating these connections would be to then
consider how aspects of medieval Scandinavian culture happen to be removed from
historic milieu and literary context, morphed into unfamiliar shape, and
appropriated towards other fantastic pursuits. We’ll think about the political
saga of Skyrim, using its focus on Empire and rebellion, as pursuits made
possible by means of Scandinavia to be able to consider what Scandinavian
fantasy worlds are actually about and why they resonate with contemporary
Anglo-American culture.
Limited
Enrollment!
Resourse: http://british.grain.edu/
