| ENGL 670 Spring 2006 Time: 5-7:30 T Place: Bliss 145 |
TEXTBOOKS.
Required Texts:
Recommended Texts:
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, you will
The principal learning activity in the course will be reading – the reading both of literary texts from the late Middle Ages and of historical and theoretical scholarship from today that contextualizes those literary texts in the moment of their composition and initial consumption. This reading will be the primary means of accomplishing the course’s learning goals, focusing on a representative selection of canonical literary texts from the Middle Ages, as well as on contemporary theories of reception and literary history. The medieval texts will provide students with a foundation of knowledge about the Middle Ages, useful both to secondary English teachers (who may need to broaden their instructional repertoire in order to teach medieval texts in their classrooms) and to prospective Ph.D. students (who need a broad base of knowledge in the foundational literary texts of various periods in order to navigate their doctoral studies successfully). In order to facilitate your learning from your reading, readings for class will be opened up through response papers and through participation in class discussion. In addition, writing groups and a seminar paper will help to develop your skills in terms of critical practices in research and writing in the field of English.
REQUIREMENTS. For this course, you must complete the following requirements:
I will not figure your final grade mathematically but holistically. Your seminar paper will, however, be absolutely crucial in my holistic calculations. I consider the seminar paper to be an opportunity for you to show me what you’ve learned in class, applying what you’ve learned in a new context. For this reason, your participation, your writing groups, and your response papers will together not quite equal your seminar paper in weight when I evaluate your work for your final grade. In your seminar paper, you need to argue a clear, specific, original thesis, and you need to do so with professionalism appropriate to the field of English. I expect you to enter into the critical conversation going on in scholarly articles and books on your topic, saying something worth saying while responding to what others have said before you. Needless to say, professionalism in terms of standard punctuation, spelling, and grammar is a must. NOTE: You should not write your seminar paper about a text that you cannot read in its original language at least a little bit (although exceptions to this general rule are sometimes possible).
Your writing groups will form and begin meeting around midterm time at the latest. Initially, the groups will brainstorm ideas for seminar paper topics. Later, your group’s members will serve as peer reviewers of your seminar paper drafts. The groups should meet (in person or, if that’s not always possible, electronically) at least six times during the semester (although I encourage groups to meet even more often than that). At least six times, each group should submit a brief report (via email to me) of what the group has been doing. If I see from your reports that your group is having difficulties, I will make suggestions for improving the situation, or I may attend one of your group’s meetings in person. If a group would like me to come to one (or more) of its meetings, I will graciously accept any invitations proffered.
For the purposes of this class, your participation in class should be meaningful. Quality is more important than quantity. A student who says one really good, thoughtful, provocative, original, challenging thing in a class meeting is doing better than a student who makes lots and lots of observations but repeats what other people have already said or tries to read my mind and say what I supposedly want to hear. Worst of all, however, is silence. I understand and respect that some people are shy, but our classroom is meant to be a safe place to try out ideas and share them with others for the edification of everyone. So, everyone needs to participate for the benefit of all.
In the course of the term, you are required to write 8 short, informal response papers (about 2 pages each) on the readings for class. You may choose which readings you want to respond to, as long as by the end of the semester you have responded 8 times. I ask you to type your response papers (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 the day’s reading assignment; then, write a response to what you have read. Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization. Be as specific and focused 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 want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the reading assignment for the day. 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 – absolutely no exceptions.
ATTENDANCE. Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class. Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your seminar paper, and the level of your participation in class impacts your final grade directly. If 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.
OFFICE HOURS. My office is Bliss 216. My office hours this semester will be 10:00-11:20 a.m. on TF and 3:30-5:00 p.m. on T. If you cannot see me during my office hours, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time. You may also contact me by e-mail (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department office in Bliss 124. E-mail is generally the fastest and easiest way to get in touch with me.
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 (perhaps reading portions of the Latin, Italian, or French literary texts for class in their original language). Please visit the LAC website at http://internationalstudies.intrasun.tcnj.edu or contact dcompte@tcnj.edu for more information. Students must meet with Dr. Compte to enroll in the LAC independent study by January 23. The LAC independent study is an undergraduate course (and, so, won’t count toward your M.A. degree), but it will show up on your transcript and show that you did significant work in a foreign language as part of your Medieval Literature course.
COURSE SCHEDULE. 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.
| Date | Assignment |
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Options for Writers in the 14th Century |
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T Jan 24 |
Introductions |
| T Jan 31 |
Read as much of Ovid’s Metamorphoses as you can but at least Books I-II
and X “Sir Launfal” (available on the TEAMS web site at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/launffrm.htm) Read as much troubador poetry as you can from Goldin, Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouveres (available in SOCS) but at least the poems by Arnaut Daniel, Bertran de Born, and Sordel(lo) Read both poems by Guido Guinizelli in Gioia, Poems from Italy (available in SOCS) |
| T Feb 7 |
The Romaunt of the Rose (all that is in The Riverside Chaucer) Brunetto Latini, the opening to Il Tesoretto |
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Dante |
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| T Feb 14 |
Dante’s De Vulgari
Eloquentia in Literary Criticism of Dante Alighieri (available on
reserve at the library and in SOCS) Read as much of Dante’s Inferno as you can but at least Cantos I-V, VIII-XI, XV, XVIII, XXIV-XXVI, XXVIII, and XXXII-XXXIV |
| T Feb 21 |
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book V, lines 331-577 (the story of the rape of
Proserpina) Read as much of Dante’s Purgatory as you can but at least Cantos I-III, VI-VII, IX-XIII, XXI-XXII, XXIV, XXVI-XXXIII Dante, “Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona” (available in SOCS) Read Dante’s Paradiso, Cantos I, XIV-XVII (available in SOCS) |
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Dante’s Italian Heirs |
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| T Feb 28 | Boccaccio, Il Filostrato (the whole thing, including the Author’s Proem) |
| T Mar 7 | Read as much of Boccaccio’s Decameron as you can but at least the Preface; the Introduction; the First Day, Stories 1-4 and Conclusion; the Third Day, Story 8; the Fourth Day, Stories 4-9; the Fifth Day, Stories 7-9; the Sixth Day, Story 9; and the Seventh Day, Story 10 |
| T Mar 14 | NO CLASS (Spring Break) |
| T Mar 21 | Read as much of Boccaccio’s Decameron as you can but at least the
Ninth Day, Story 10; all of the Tenth Day; and the Author’s Conclusion Petrarch, Familiares, Book XXI, 15; Seniles, Book V, 2, and Book XVII, 3 (all available in SOCS) |
| The English Flowering under Richard II | |
| T Mar 28 | Read as much of Gower’s Confessio Amantis as you can (available at the TEAMS web site under G for “Gower”) but read at least the Prologue and Books 1 and 8 (all in your textbook) |
| T Apr 4 | all of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde (in The Riverside Chaucer) |
| T Apr 11 | Chaucer, all of The House of Fame; the General Prologue, Knight’s Tale, and Miller’s Prologue and Tale from The Canterbury Tales (in The Riverside Chaucer) |
| T Apr 18 | Read as much of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (in The Riverside Chaucer) as you can but at least the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, the Clerk’s Prologue and Tale, the Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, the Squire’s Introduction and Tale, the Franklin’s Prologue and Tale, the Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas, the opening of the Tale of Melibee, and the Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue |
| The Feminine Response | |
| T Apr 25 | Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, all of Part I and up to Chapter 25 in Part II |
| T May 2 | Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, the rest of Part II and all of Part III |
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