COMPLIT 372: Tristan and Isolde: Love and the Shaping of Desire (COMPLIT 272, GERMAN 272, GERMAN 372)

Course Description

This seminar explores the rich and enduring tradition of the Tristan and Isolde story, from its medieval imagining to modern retellings. We will examine how different versions of the story - literary, visual, and operatic - construct and complicate themes of love, loyalty, betrayal, and fate. Special attention will be paid to how the tale negotiates gender roles across genres and historical contexts. Through close readings of key texts from authors such as Beroul, Gottfried von Strassburg, and Thomas of Britain, as well as later adaptations by Wagner and 20th/21st-century writers and filmmakers, we will interrogate how the figure of desire is shaped by cultural expectations and ideological tensions. The course will also consider critical perspectives from feminist, psychoanalytic, and queer theory to illuminate how passion is framed - as danger, liberation, compulsion, or resistance. No prior knowledge of medieval literature is required, but a willingness to wrestle with challenging texts and complex questions is essential.