August 2024 Modules

Welcome to the Readings in Prose page for the Advanced Old English Series in which students explore, in alternating months, a work of prose and then a work of poetry to introduce students to the breadth and depth of Old English texts available for study. Each month Dr. Swain surveys the group to see what they want to tackle next from month to month.

In an interactive language course, we will explore the grammar, culture, and vocabulary of the largest Scandinavian language spoken today. From Vikings to Volvos to IKEA, Sweden is internationally recognized as a leader of cultural thought and political neutrality. The Swedish language is from the branch of North Germanic languages, meaning a lot of built in cognates exist for speakers of other Germanic languages (including English).

Kom och tala svenska med mig!

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the fifth Dune novel, Heretics of Dune. 1500 years after the reign of Leto II, humanity is locked on the path laid out by the tyrant. Yet a new threat emerges from the shadows: the Honored Matres, a deadly ecstatic cult bent upon the destruction of the planet Dune...

Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights.

Let the spice flow!

We will meet to blend learning, discussion, and playing games with reading, appreciating, and commenting on one another’s work as it is submitted for peer review. You are encouraged — but never required — to submit new pieces in any state of draftiness or readiness for peer reading and feedback. Our Collaborative Feedback method, developed here at Signum University, asks you to comment at the author's comfort level through a structured reader (not editor) response. We gather to encourage the story that you want to tell. Our philosophy of kindness first might just turn around your previous experience of writing groups.

Year of the Novel Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Year of the Novel modules at any time. Each module is designed to stand alone without prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the carefully planned sequence of modules will carry you from blank page as far as you want toward completing your novel. In a writing journal, you will track your progress and moments of unexpected, joyful discovery as you continue your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video here.

We will meet to blend learning, discussion, and playing games with reading, appreciating, and commenting on one another’s work as it is submitted for peer review. You are encouraged — but never required — to submit new pieces in any state of draftiness or readiness for peer reading and feedback. Our Collaborative Feedback method, developed here at Signum University, asks you to comment at the author's comfort level through a structured reader (not editor) response. We gather to encourage the story that you want to tell. Our philosophy of kindness first might just turn around your previous experience of writing groups.

Year of the Novel Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Year of the Novel modules at any time. Each module is designed to stand alone without prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the carefully planned sequence of modules will carry you from blank page as far as you want toward completing your novel. In a writing journal, you will track your progress and moments of unexpected, joyful discovery as you continue your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video here.

Terry Pratchett said that Tiffany Aching "...started with a girl lying down by a river, on the first page of The Wee Free Men". With the character of Tiffany, a witch-in-training with initially only a frying pan and her common sense to help her, Pratchett said that he wanted to "restate" the purpose of magic on the Discworld and the relationship between wizards, witches, and others. He included ideas of responsibility and "guarding your society" as he felt it drew closer to the reality of a witch – that is, "the village herbalist, the midwife, the person who knew things". Pratchett chose a young protagonist because when you're young "you have to learn," and he chose the name "Tiffany" because it evoked anything but a powerful witch.

Throughout the series, Tiffany grows both as a young girl and woman and as a witch. In this course, we will follow the arc of Tiffany’s progress from naïve young girl to a powerful witch in her own right, who takes over from Granny Weatherwax, is hailed by the Nac Mac Feagle as their new ‘hag o’ the hills,’ and whose name, in their language, is Tir-far-thóinn or "Land Under Wave."

Access to the listed texts is desirable. Prior knowledge of at least the majority of the listed texts will be assumed.

The Hieroglyphics series will present students with a basic understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs, grammar, and knowledge about how to proceed with further study. In this sequence of courses we will discuss how to translate steles that you are likely to encounter in museums, as well as their cultural significance. As student progress, the class will tackle more complex translation. Each one-month module builds on the previous one, so students ready to learn Hieroglyphics will communicate with our Director and Professor Gaffney to make the right placement for everyone.

This course is for those who have an interest in Japanese culture and wish to continue our study of Japanese. We will continue using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, and covering grammatical structures. Through use of conversational Japanese, we will continue to explore how the language is used in anime, manga, and music.

Japanese is a language of great nuance and depth. This module will open the door to that world and build a foundation for greater insight into Japan's culture and its people.

In this series, we will continue our study of Japanese expressions and grammar through history, daily life, and pop culture such as anime. We will read, listen, speak, and write Japanese.

Note: Japanese Through Culture will be taught in Japanese. Therefore, it is for students who already have basic level of Japanese.

Is The Silmarillion your favorite book? Is it your least-favorite book? Whether you’re reading it for the first or fiftieth time, KnewBettaDoBetta will help you see it in a more fun, relatable way!

Tolkien’s The Silmarillion is inarguably a complex read. KnewBetta seeks to make it more accessible by teaching the lore in an understandable way. His hope is that everyone can share his knowledge and passion! This course will look at characters, relationships, relatable themes, and meanings that you may not have explored yet.

Ready to begin learning Old English? This series of modules introduces students to the vocabulary and structure of the earliest recorded form of the English language. One year of modules prepares the student to read texts from over a thousand years ago! Each one-month module builds on the previous one, so students ready to learn Old English will communicate with our Director and Professor Swain to make the right placement for everyone.

Situated on the margins of the medieval world, Iceland was remarkable for developing the largest secular literature in Europe – and Njál’s Saga is the longest, as well as probably the most famous and most artistically acclaimed, of the medieval Sagas of Icelanders. Probably written originally in the later 13th century, Njál’s Saga looks back to feuds of the later Viking Age, in the 10th and 11th centuries and presents much that is characteristic of the Sagas of Icelanders generally: a multitude of clearly drawn and memorable figures (both male and female); clever dialogue, full of dark humor and memorable phrases; great fighters and great fights; bad guys who nevertheless show us some redeeming traits, (however slight); and good guys with their own flaws and shortcomings (often fatal).

Note: We wanted students to be aware that this module may contain violent, graphic, and/or other potentially disturbing material.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Lecture 1: Introduction to “Njál’s Saga” and its medieval Icelandic context; overview of “Hrut’s Saga” (chapters 1-18 of “Njál’s Saga”)
	Discussion 1: Comments on and questions about the medieval Icelandic context of “Njál’s Saga” and the content of Hrut’s Saga” (chapters 1-18 of “Njál’s Saga”)
Week 2	Lecture 2: Overview of “Gunnar’s Saga” (chapters 19-81 of “Njál’s Saga”)
	Discussion 2: Comments on and questions about “Gunnar’s Saga” (chapters 19-81 of “Njál’s Saga”)
Week 3	Lecture 3: Overview of “Njál’s Saga ‘proper’” (chapters 82-132 of “Njál’s Saga”)
	Discussion 3: Comments on and questions about “Njál’s Saga ‘proper’” (chapters 82-132 of “Njál’s Saga”)
Week 4	Lecture 4: Overview of “Flosi’s and Kari’s Saga” (chapters 133-159 of “Njál’s Saga”)
	Discussion 4: Comments on and questions about “Flosi’s and Kari’s Saga” (chapters 133-159 of “Njál’s Saga”)

This module will focus on bodies in Middle-earth from a multitude of directions and fields of enquiry. We will address fascinating subjects such as Sauron's body, the physical differences between Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White and the age old question "Do Balrogs have wings?" [No, the case is not settled on this.] We will explore how Tolkien writes about gendered and racialized bodies and how he uses slap-stick carnivalesque bodily humor in The Hobbit. We will explore the artwork and film images too. The point will be that bodies very much mattered in the narratives that make up Tolkien's Cauldron of Story, and they matter in his Legendarium!

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Lecture 1: Introductions. Strategies of Reading Theories of the Body Topics: Feminism, Gender, Sexuality, Race, Religion, Science, Art Do Bodies Matter in Middle-earth? Reading spirituality: Evil and Angelic Bodies, Wraiths, Elves, Istari, Sauron’s Bodies
	Discussion 1: Discussion about Lecture 1 topics
Week 2	Lecture 2: Reading gendered bodies Trans bodies? Women’s and Men’s Bodies Masculine and Feminine Bodies Bodies and Metaphors of Light or Foliage
	Discussion 2: Discussion about Lecture 2 topics
Week 3	Lecture 3: Reading race and the body Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Races of men Hybridized Bodies: The White Rider Intersectionality: Dwarf Women
	Discussion 3: Discussion about Lecture 3 topics
Week 4	Lecture 4: Wars, wounds, suffering bodies Bodies Out of Faerie: on stage and on screen
	Discussion 4: Discussion about Lecture 4 topics