In this course we’ll read a selection of works from the European Middle Ages, concentrating especially on those in which the themes of love and death intersect. Works will include Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain and The Saga of Kormak the Skald as well as selections from such longer works and collections as Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Arthur, and The Nibelungenlied.