Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival

Albrecht Classen
Fall 2020
Tuesdays |  
10 AM - 12 PM (AZ Time)
October 6, 13, 20, 27, and November 3, 2020
Course Format: Hybrid
Location: Online
Tuition: $145

In life we search for God, spirituality, meaning, or identity. In medieval Italian literature Dante did this best in his Divina Commedia. In medieval German literature Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival did the same. This course examines his monumental Grail romance and probes what Wolfram said about human existence in material and spiritual terms. Studying Parzival will help us see a central spiritual path through life, where joy and sorrow, death and new life, love and hatred are the core of the human struggle. Wolfram will be our guide, a profound voice from the Middle Ages, still relevant.

Please Note: Fall 2020 Course Registration Opens Online on Monday, August 10th at 8AM (AZ Time)

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

  • All Fall 2020 courses will be ONLINE ONLY.
  • Courses will be delivered online via the Zoom video conferencing platform. All courses will be password protected and only available to enrolled students.
  • All class sessions will be recorded and made available to enrolled students for a limited time to assist those who may not be able to attend the live class times.
  • The Humanities Seminars Program reserves the right to cancel any seminar that fails to meet registration minimums. If a course is canceled all students enrolled in the canceled course will receive a full refund.

Required Reading

Translation of the original: Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival and Titurel, trans. with notes by Cyril Edwards. Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Recommended Reading

Secondary literature: A Companion to Wolfram’s ‘Parzival’, ed. Will Hasty (Rochester, NY: Camden House – Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 1999)

Meet Your Instructor

University Distinguished Professor

ALBRECHT CLASSEN received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1986. He has a broad range of research interests focusing on pre-modern German and European literature and culture.  He has published currently 132 books and well over 800 articles. Most recently, he published Criticism of the Court and the Evil King (with Lexington Books, 2024). In 2017, he received the rank of Grand Knight Commander of the Most Noble Order of the Three Lions.

Location

THIS COURSE WILL BE OFFERED ONLINE ONLY

Classes will be live streamed during the time and dates specified in the course details section above. Instructions about how to access the course online will be sent to all enrolled students before the course begins.

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