University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 1

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students.

Planned timetable: Friday 9.00-11.00am

An exploration of how the East is imagined and described in a wide range of Old English prose and poetry. Among topics covered will be the major points of contact between East and West in the early Middle Ages: Christian, Germanic and Islamic mythology and cosmology, conflict between human beings and monsters, the origin of ethnic groups, and examples of exile. Geographies studied will include Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the Holy Land, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and India, using literature like saints' lives (on desert saints), travel accounts (by Ohthere and Ibn Fadlan), global zoology and anthropology (the Wonder of the East, the Liber monstrorum), and military and tribal historiography (Alexander the Great). Old English materials will be read in the original language; additional texts written in Latin, Arabic and Old Norse will be studied in translation.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Before taking this module you must pass EN2003 and pass EN2004

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: A 2-hour weekly seminar (x 11 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours: 22

Guided independent study hours: 278

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 50% Written Exam = 50%


Re-assessment: Written Exam = 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr C Rauer
Module teaching staff: Dr Christine Rauer

Intended learning outcomes

• 1. Acquire a good knowledge and critical awareness of a range of early medieval attitudes towards Eastern cultures.
• 2. Deepen their knowledge of Old English language, and cope more confidently with texts in early English and difficult linguistic formats.
• 3. Develop self-awareness in reacting to culturally, historically and spiritually alien materials in a tolerant and knowledgeable way.
• 4. Recognise modern preoccupations with intercultural relations in the written output of earlier generations and understand the timelessness of such topics.