Late Medieval Writers

LIT/CMP 343
Fall 2006
Time: 4-5:20 MR
Place: Bliss 152
Prof. G. Steinberg
Office: Bliss 216
Office Phone: 771-2106
E-mail: available through SOCS

TEXTBOOKS.

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  This course will examine the flowering of vernacular literature in fourteenth-century Europe.  Emphasis will be placed on reconstructing how and why fourteenth-century European writers, such as Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Gower, and Christine de Pizan, came to create a vernacular tradition that transcended national and linguistic boundaries.  Topics covered in the course this semester will include classical and vernacular precursors to fourteenth-century vernacular writing.

GOALS.  By the end of the course, I want you to

  1. enjoy the richness, vitality, and strangeness (and master the challenges) of late medieval literature;
  2. demonstrate familiarity with a significant body of texts within – and on the margins of – a variety of literary traditions;
  3. read, analyze, and synthesize literary texts and traditions from a critical, theoretical, multinational, and interdisciplinary perspective;
  4. engage in the practice of comparative literary analysis by writing about literary texts and traditions from within a comparative framework and drawing conclusions about the significance of literary and cultural intersections and divergences/differences;
  5. pursue a sustained investigation of the idea of literature itself by examining what literature is and how it is culturally, politically, philosophically and/or sociologically defined and influenced, and by exploring, from a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective, how and why literary texts are categorized (in terms of traditions, periods, genres and movements); and
  6. demonstrate sensitivity to the concrete historicity and cultural specificity of texts and to the development of literary traditions, cultural values, modes of thought, and uses of language over time and across national boundaries.

REQUIREMENTS.  For this course, you must complete the following graded requirements:

  1. PAPER 1 (10% of your final grade),
  2. 10 two-page response papers (2% each, 20% altogether),
  3. a mid-term exam (15%),
  4. PAPER 2 (30%), and
  5. a final exam (25%).

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:  A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%.

RESPONSE PAPERS.  In the course of the term, you are required to write 10 short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the readings for class.  You may choose for which days you want to write a response paper, as long as you have completed ten response papers by the end of the term.  For each response paper, choose one of the following topics and analyze the reading assignment for the day with respect to the topic you’ve chosen:

  1. Literary Relations and Intertextuality.  Which previous reading assignment does this text remind you of most?  What elements in this text remind you of that previous reading assignment?  Is it similar to the earlier assignment in terms of form, content, imagery, tone, or structure?  Does the writer seem to have had the earlier text specifically in mind as he or she wrote?  Does the writer refer to the earlier text explicitly by name or implicitly through allusions and echoes?  Why might the writer have wanted to remind us of the earlier text?  Is the writer honoring, criticizing, or updating the earlier text?  What elements have been changed?  Why might the writer have felt the need to change those elements?  What do the changes reveal about the writer’s purpose?  What do the changes reveal about the writer’s relationship to the earlier text and its writer?  What if the writer did not explicitly know the earlier text?  What can we learn by comparing and contrasting the two texts then?
  2. Genre.  What seem to be the main generic elements of the text?  In terms of narrative, does the text have an epic scope or a more narrow reach?  In terms of style and tone, does the text strive for high art or for a more low-brow feel?  In terms of characters, are there a particular set of stock characters that are used?  What features seem to define the genre of the text?  What kinds of tropes, images, structural elements, stereotypes, and conventions seem typical?  What are the characteristics of the form of the text?  Is the text poetry, prose, or a combination of both?  If poetry, what kind of poetry is used (rhyme scheme, line length, stanza form)?  What do medieval writers seem to associate with this kind of form?  How does the genre of this text compare to that of previous reading assignments?  NOTE:  Many of the texts we are reading are translations, and in some cases, the translation is in prose, but the original was in poetry.  When you talk about form, talk about the form of the original, not the form of the translation.
  3. Language.  What does the choice of language in the work (Latin or vernacular) tell us about the writer’s motives and intentions?  Why might the writer have chosen to write in a particular language?  Why would writing in the vernacular (or in Latin) be important to the writer?  What audience might the writer be trying to reach?  What might the writer be trying to say by choosing one language over another?  How does the writer seem to feel toward the language chosen?  How does the writer’s choice of language seem to compare to other writers’ choices in previous assignments in class?
  4. Values.  What values does the work assume or espouse?  What values does it seem to question or criticize?  What seems to be the work’s main purpose in terms of cultural work – propaganda, social critique, social norming?  To what social class might the work be appealing?  How do its values compare to those of previous assignments in class?
  5. Gender.  How are men and women portrayed in the text?  What seems to be the attitude of the author toward men and women?  What does the text generalize about male and female gender roles?  What does the text imply or say about what roles are appropriate for each gender?  What kinds of spaces, occupations, attitudes, or images are associated with one gender or the other?  Does the text seem to favor or criticize either gender?  How does the text’s treatment of gender relate to that of previous reading assignments in class?  What stereotypes about the genders seem to have existed in the medieval period?
  6. Setting.  Where is the text’s story set?  How does the setting affect our perception of the plot and characters?  Does the setting change?  How is change of setting significant to the action and characterization of the work?  Is the setting symbolic?  If so, how?  What details in the setting are important and meaningful?  How does the symbolism of the setting compare to the symbolism of setting in previous reading assignments?  What assumptions do medieval writers seem to make (and what stereotypes do they seem to have) about certain settings (e.g., forests, monasteries, gardens)?
  7. Religion.  How are religion and religious ideas portrayed in the text?  How Christian is the work in outlook, doctrine, and/or symbolism?  Does the text use Christian images?  Does it allude to Christian stories?  Does it espouse Christian values (with or without explicit Christian content)?  Does it reflect on or mention Christian doctrine?  How is organized religion portrayed?  How are Church figures (such as friars, monks, priests, and nuns) portrayed?  How does religion in the text compare to that in previous readings?

You should have written on each one of these topics over the course of your 10 response papers for the term.  Keep in mind that some topics are more relevant to some readings than others (and some topics may not be relevant at all to other readings).

Response papers will be graded Pass/Fail.  I ask you to type them (so that they are easier for me to read), but they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response.  Think about one of the topics  that I ask you to consider; then, write a response.  Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Don’t worry about answering every question I ask under the particular topic.  In fact, focus on the one question that seems most interesting to you, and be as specific as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper.  I don’t want a five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the reading assignment for the day.

Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it in hard copy in class on the assigned day), you will receive all the points that the response paper is worth.  The purpose of the response papers is

  1. to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
  2. to help me see where you’re struggling with the readings for class,
  3. to help you develop your intellectual independence and your confidence as a reader,
  4. to help you explore the relationships among the texts we’re reading, and
  5. to practice comparative literary analysis (in preparation for PAPER 1 and PAPER 2).

You may submit more than 10 response papers in the course of the semester (to make up for any response papers that do not receive a grade of Pass), but no matter how many extra response papers you turn in, you will not receive credit for more than 10 total.  You may not submit more than one response paper on a single day, nor may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class.

PAPER 1.  Read the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale from The Canterbury Tales.  The character of the Wife of Bath is a version of the the Old Woman (la Vieille) from The Romance of the Rose (the Roman de la Rose).  Chaucer certainly knew Jean de Meun’s text (he even translated part of it into Middle English).  In a paper of 5-7 pages, argue a clear and specific thesis about something we learn about Chaucer’s character of the Wife of Bath by seeing her in relation to Jean de Meun’s Old Woman.  To help you think about what to write, consider the topics listed under “Response Papers” above.  How does Chaucer’s Wife of Bath relate to Jean de Meun’s Old Woman in terms of literary relations, genre, language, values, gender, setting, or religion?  Choose just one of these areas (or another similar one of your own devising) as your focus  You need not use outside sources for this paper; in fact, I would encourage you not to use outside sources (because I'd rather hear what you think than what some published scholar thinks).  You will submit this paper to me electronically in the “dropbox” in SOCS (not in hard copy or in class).  I encourage you, about a week before the paper is due, to submit a thesis paragraph (a draft first paragraph of your paper or just a paragraph that describes what you plan to write about) in the “Assessments” module of SOCS; if you do so by the date noted in the course schedule below, I will give you feedback on your proposed thesis before you submit your final paper.

Your paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  1. Does the paper have a clear, specific thesis?  Does the thesis offer an interesting perspective or “hook” that is provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
  2. Does the paper’s comparative analysis progress logically?  Does the paper have a clear and consistent overall organization that relates all the ideas of the paper together in support of the thesis with appropriate transitions to aid the reader (rather than simply a list of random similarities and differences without relation to one another or to the thesis)?  Does the paper have appropriate transitions to aid the reader in following the paper’s logic (rather than weak transitions, such as “The first...,” “Another...,” and “...also...”)?
  3. Does the paper provide relevant, concrete evidence and logically persuasive reasons for every assertion?
  4. Does the paper show sensitivity to the concrete historicity of the literary works under consideration (rather than treat them as timeless museum pieces or reflect on them anachronistically)?
  5. Does the paper exhibit confidence and insight when analyzing literary works not discussed in class?
  6. Does the introduction to the paper offer an interesting, helpful preview of the content, logic, and organization of the paper?
  7. Is factual information in the paper accurate?
  8. Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, correct (according to the norms of standard American English), and appropriate to an academic setting?

PAPER 2.  Choose one of the following two options:

  1. Read the Clerk’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales.  This tale is a version of the Griselda story also told by Boccaccio and Petrarch.  Chaucer certainly knew Petrarch’s version but may or may not have known Boccaccio’s.  In a paper of 5-7 pages, argue a clear and specific thesis about something we learn about Chaucer’s tale by seeing it in relation to Boccaccio’s or Petrarch’s (not both).  To help you think about what to write, consider the topics listed under “Response Papers” above.  How does Chaucer’s tale relate to Boccaccio’s or Petrarch’s in terms of intertextuality and literary relations, genre, language, values, gender, setting, or religion?  Choose just one of these areas (or another similar one of your own devising) as your focus. 
  2. Read the Reeve’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales.  The Reeve’s Tale is a version of the story told in Jean Bodel’s “Gombert and the Two Clerks.”  Chaucer probably did not know Bodel’s version, but he certainly knew other versions like it, and his own version of the story is definitely in the same tradition as Bodel’s.  In a paper of 5-7 pages, argue a clear and specific thesis about something we learn about Chaucer’s tale by seeing it in relation to Jean Bodel’s.  To help you think about what to write, consider the topics listed under “Response Papers” above.  How does Chaucer’s tale relate to Jean Bodel’s in terms of intertextuality, genre, language, values, gender, setting, or religion?  Choose just one of these areas (or another similar one of your own devising) as your focus.

You need not use outside sources for this paper; in fact, I would encourage you not to use outside sources (because I'd rather hear what you think than what some published scholar thinks).  You will submit this paper to me electronically in the “dropbox” in SOCS (not in hard copy or in class).  I encourage you, about a week before the paper is due, to submit a thesis paragraph (a draft first paragraph of your paper or just a paragraph that describes what you plan to write about) in the “Assessments” module of SOCS; if you do so by the date noted in the course schedule below, I will give you feedback on your proposed thesis before you submit your final paper.  Your paper will be evaluated according to the same criteria as PAPER 1.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your graded work.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of information for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting.  And please, don’t ask, “Did I miss anything?”  Check out Tom Wayman’s poem about that question.

OFFICE HOURS.  My office is Bliss 216, and my office hours are 1:30-2 p.m., 3:30-4 p.m., and 5:30-6 p.m. on MR.  If you cannot see me during these office hours, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or to talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time.  You may also contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department offices in Bliss 124.  Email is generally the fastest way to contact me in an emergency.

EMAIL.  I may, on occasion, want to e-mail everyone in class.  I generally only have access to your TCNJ e-mail addresses, however.  As a result, if you regularly use an e-mail address other than your TCNJ address, I recommend that you have mail from your TCNJ address forwarded to the address you use more regularly.  That way, if I e-mail your TCNJ address, my message will be forwarded to your other address automatically.  To forward mail from your TCNJ address, go to http://managemail.tcnj.edu/  and click “Mail Forwarding Manager.”  Follow the directions there to set up the mail forwarding.

If you would like to send an e-mail message to one or more of your classmates, you can do so through SOCS.  To access SOCS, go to http://socs.tcnj.edu and, after you have logged in with your TCNJ e-mail username and password, choose this class from the list of your courses this semester.  Then, when our course page comes up, click the “Email” button.  From there, you can select individual e-mail addresses or the entire class and send a message to the address(es) you’ve selected.

Accommodations.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability.  The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community.  Individuals with disabilities are responsible for reporting and supplying documentation verifying their disability, and requests for accommodations must be initiated through the Office of Differing Abilities Services (Eickhoff Hall 159).  If you require special assistance, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities will be respected.

LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM.  A one credit Languages Across the Curriculum independent study may be added to this course for those students who have intermediate level proficiency in another language and who wish to complement the work in this course by utilizing their language skills.  Please visit the LAC website at http://internationalstudies.intrasun.tcnj.edu or contact dcompte@tcnj.edu for more information.  Students must meet with Dr. Deborah Compte to enroll in the LAC independent study by September 8.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  The assignments below are the minimum that you should read.  I encourage you to read as much of the works covered in this class as you are able, but you should read at least the portions specified for each date.  This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.  Changes made in the schedule after the beginning of the semester will be shown in red.
Dates Assignments
R Aug 31 Introductions

Options Available to Writers in the 14th Century
M Sep 4 NO CLASS (Labor Day) – class will be held on Tuesday instead
T Sep 5 Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1-2
R Sep 7 Virgil, Aeneid, Books 4 and 6
M Sep 11 Ovid, Metamorphoses, pp. 3-40, 81-87, 93-94, 115-152
R Sep 14 Ovid, Metamorphoses, pp. 61-73, 234-265, 305-318, 326-357
M Sep 18 The Romance of the Rose, Chapters 1-3
R Sep 21 The Romance of the Rose, Chapters 5, 7, and 11-12 (please note that this is a particularly long assignment; budget your prep time for class accordingly)
M Sep 25 Sir Launfal (available online at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/launffrm.htm)
Jean Bodel’s “Gombert and the Two Clerks” from Benson and Anderson, The Literary Context of Chaucer’s Fabliaux (available in SOCS)
all the poems by Arnaut Daniel, Bertran de Born, and Sordel(lo) in Goldin, Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères (available in SOCS)
both poems by Guido Guinizelli in Gioia, Poems from Italy (available in SOCS)
Brunetto Latini, the opening to Il Tesoretto

Dante
R Sep 28 Dante, Inferno, Cantos I-V and VIII-XI; THESIS PARAGRAPH for PAPER 1 DUE in the “Assessments” module of SOCS
M Oct 2 Dante, Inferno, Cantos XV, XVIII, XXIV-XXVI, XXVIII, and XXXII-XXXIV
R Oct 5 Dante, “Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona” (available in SOCS)
Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos I-III, VI-VII, and IX-XIII
F Oct 6 PAPER 1 DUE in the “Dropbox” of SOCS
M Oct 9 Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos XXI-XXII, XXIV, XXVI-XXXIII
R Oct 12 Dante, Paradiso, Cantos I-III, IX-X, XIV-XX, XXII, XXX-XXXIII
M Oct 16 MID-TERM EXAM

Dante’s Italian Heirs
R Oct 19 Boccaccio, Il Filostrato, Parts 1-3 (in Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde)
M Oct 23 NO CLASS (Mid-term Break)
R Oct 26 Boccaccio, Il Filostrato, Parts 4-9 (in Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde)
M Oct 30 Boccaccio, Decameron: the Preface; the Introduction; the First Day, Stories 1-4 and Conclusion; the Fourth Day, Introduction and Stories 1, 4-5, 7, and 9
R Nov 2 Boccaccio, Decameron: the Second Day, Story 9; the Third Day, Story 8; the Fifth Day, Stories 7-9; the Sixth Day, Story 9; and the Seventh Day, Story 10; the Ninth Day, Story 10
M Nov 6 Boccaccio, Decameron: all of the Tenth Day and the Author’s Conclusion
R Nov 9 Petrarch, Familiares, Book XXI, 15; Seniles, Book V, 2, and Book XVII, 3 (all available in SOCS)
The English Flowering under Richard II
M Nov 13 Gower, Confessio Amantis, Book 1
R Nov 16 Gower, Confessio Amantis, Book 8
M Nov 20 Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Books I-II
R Nov 23 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
F Nov 24 THESIS PARAGRAPH for PAPER 2 DUE in the “Assessments” module of SOCS
M Nov 27 Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Books III-IV
R Nov 30 Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Book V
F Dec 1 PAPER 2 DUE in the “Dropbox” of SOCS
The Feminine Response
M Dec 4 Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, Part I, Chapters 1-13 and 33-46
R Dec 7 Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, Part II, Chapters 12-14, 47-61, and all of Part III
Finals Week FINAL EXAM

Click here to go to my home page.