Course Information:

Instructors: C. Fee; N. Cushing-Daniels

Meeting Time: MW 2:10-3:25

Meeting Place: Science Center-153

Office: Breidenbaugh 406 (Fee) Weidensall 407 (Cushing-Daniels)

Office Hours:

Fee: MW 3:30-4:30 (in my office;) F 2:00-3:00 (at the Ragged Edge;) and by appointment

Cushing-Daniels: (in my office) M 1:50-3:50; TU 10:30-11:30; W 1:30-2:30 and by appointment

Office Phone: x6762 (Fee) x6858 (Cushing-Daniels)

Home Phone (Call before 10:00 pm): 528-4799 (Fee); 338-9260 (Cushing-Daniels)

E-mail: cfee@gettysburg.edu
            ncushing@gettysburg.edu

Course Description:

Beginning with mystic poetry that expresses the union of the human soul with the divine, this course will examine models of divine love that are sexual/sensual, and the resonance of these models in expressing human love. Many Medieval works also address, mostly through satire, ecclesiastical debates of the time, such as clerical celibacy. We will contextualize these writings in the social, cultural and historical milieu of fourteenth-century Europe as well as in the contemporary debates (in the 21st century) about sexuality and the clergy, spirituality and religiosity. Medieval texts often use comedy as a way to draw the reader in to more serious theological and philosophical questions concerning the nature of humanity and how we perceive of the divine. In addition to studying specific works, we will explore the differences and commonalities between three major literary traditions (English, Italian and Spanish) in the Middle Ages, giving special attention to the multi-cultural aspects and the coexistence of Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures.

Required Texts:

The Romance of the Rose (Oxford World's Classics) by Guillaume De Lorris, Jean De Meun, Frances Horgan. ISBN: 0192839489

The Book of Good Love (Everyman's Library) by Juan Ruiz, Elizabeth Drayson MacDonald. ISBN: 0460877623 (LBA)

The Decameron (Oxford World's Classics) by Giovanni Boccaccio, Guido Waldman, Jonathan Usher. ISBN: 0192836919 (Dec)

The Lais of Marie De France (Penguin Classics) by Glyn S. Burgess, Keith Busby. ISBN: 0140447598

Revelations of Divine Love (Penguin Classics) by Julian of Norwich, A. C. Spearing. ISBN: 0140446737

The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer, Nevill Coghill. ISBN: 0140424385 (CT)

Troilus and Criseyde (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer, Nevill Coghill. ISBN: 0140442391 (TC)

Reserved Primary Text:

The Book of Good Love (Everyman's Library) by Juan Ruiz, Elizabeth Drayson MacDonald. PQ 6430 .A5 E51 1999

Reserved Secondary Texts:

Baker, Denise Nowakowski. Julian of Norwich's Showings: from Vision to Book. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. BV4831.J83 B34 1994

Beer, Frances. Women and Mystical Experience in the Middle Ages. Rochester: Boydell Press, 1992. BV5095.H55 B44 1992

Brownlee, Kevin and Sylvia Huot, eds. Rethinking The Romance of the Rose: Text, Image, Reception. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. PQ1528 .R48 1992

Burgess, Glyn S. The Lais of Marie de France: Text and Context. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987. PQ1494.L7 B87 1987

Cooper, Helen. The Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. PR1874 .C64 1989

Dagenais, John. The Ethics of Reading in Manuscript Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2001. PQ 6430 .D34 1994

Dinshaw, Carolyn and David Wallace, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. PN682.W6 C36 2003

Forni, Pier Massimo. Adventures in Speech : Rhetoric and Narration in Boccaccio's Decameron. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996. PQ4295 .F67 1996

Gray, Douglas. The Oxford Companion to Chaucer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. PR1903 .O94 2003

Koff, Leonard Michael and Brenda Deen Schildgen, eds. The Decameron and the Canterbury Tales. Madison: Associated University Presses. 2000  PR 1874 .D43 2000

Rouhi, Leyla. Mediation and Love: A Study of the Medieval Go-Between in
Key Romance and Near-Eastern Texts.  Boston: Brill. 1999. PN 682 .G64 R68 1999

Windeatt, B. A. The Oxford Guides to Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. PR1896 .W56 1995

Suggested On-line Resources:

Decameron Web: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/dweb.shtml

The Geoffrey Chaucer Website: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/

Course Structure & Objectives:

The format of the course primarily will be Socratic: Discussion will arise from questions posed either by the professors, student discussion leaders, or other students in the class. As this is a team-taught class, we will focus on what all of us can learn from each other, emphasizing the perspectives and interests a diverse group of scholars will bring to the class. Class time will be spent discussing the readings, and such discussion will be punctuated by group and individual presentations. The class also will be required to attend a select number of extra-curricular activities, such as scholarly talks or films, which will be related to the texts.

Learning Goals:

“All we need is love,” and certainly most of us are interested in what “love” is. The students in this course will study and discuss a range of authors, texts, genres, and cultures which evoke the many themes of love as these were developed in Europe in the High Middle Ages. Students who successfully complete this course will be aware of the larger historical and cultural context of the Medieval literature of love, and will be able to trace some connections between times, texts, and cultures. By examining with a critical eye (but with an open mind) that which is alien (and that which is familiar) residing amongst the roots of the western culture in which we live, one stands to gain insight into cultures Medieval and modern, as well as an introduction into ways of interacting with and benefiting from that which is the other, that which seems strange and inexplicable, that which makes one uncomfortable. 

The assignments for this course are designed both to facilitate and to interrogate each student’s exploration of the Medieval themes of love and their relevance in a post-modern, cyber-love world. The reading, writing, research, and presentation requirements of this course are intended to foster oral and written effective communications skills; the interdisciplinary format is meant to promote integrative thinking; finally, the emphasis on different Medieval modes of the discourse of love may inform understandings of conceptual or domestic diversity.

A Note on the Reading:

Readings listed for a particular week should be completed before class that week; all of the reading for this course is in modern English translations, and the reading load is not exceptional for an upper-level literature course. Much of the material may at first seem alien, however, so allow ample time for reading, absorbing, and re-reading. Make notes of those issues which intrigue, annoy, or confuse you, and come prepared to each class period with at least three substantive questions pertaining to the text at hand. Further, be sure to read the introduction to each work; you should plan to complete such background reading before the introductory lectures concerned with the author of that work. These lectures will be brief (no more than 15 minutes) and designed to provide an intelligent overview to an audience that has the knowledge provided by the introductions. Finally, although we have planned our discussions around selections organized thematically, these readings—and indeed, the course as a whole—will make much more sense if you have read the texts in their entirety. To this end, be sure to have read the first two works in entirety before our first guest lecture, and to have completed the rest of the texts before our final guest lecture. The quizzes and exam will reflect these expectations.

Course Structure:

Week one: (Aug. 30-Sept. 1) Course Introduction. Introduction to Mysticism. Mystical Love: Revelations of Divine Love: in entirety. First reaction paper due: 9/1.

Week two: (Sept. 6-8) Introduction to Allegory. Allegorical Love: Romance of the Rose: in entirety. First Guest Lecture 9/7: “Gender, Acculturation and the Go-Between in Medieval Iberia” –Michelle Hamilton (TBA).

Week three: (Sept. 13-15) Introduction to Chaucer and 14^th C. England. Courtship (The Courtly Lover): The Knight's Tale (CT); Dec VI:4 (Chichibio),VI:9 (Guido Cavalcanti); VI:10 (Frate Cipolla); Troilus (T&C: BK I); Lanval, Les Deus Amanz, Chaitivel & Chevrefoil (Marie de France). Second reaction paper due: 9/15.

Week four: (Sept. 20-22) Introduction 14^th C. “Spain” and questions of authorship. Courtship (The Go-Between): LBA: 53-55;99-119;135-147;147-163; (Don Amor, Doña Venus); 219-233 (Trotaconventos);  Pandarus (T&C: BK II). Presentation: Group 1.

Week five: (Sept. 27-29) Introduction to 14^th C. Italy and Boccaccio. Love and Marriage: Dec IX:3 (pregnant Calandrio);X:9 (Saladino),X:10 (Griselda); LBA: 55-57;119-135; final paper topic due. Third reaction paper due: 9/29. Presentation: Group 2.

Week six: (Oct. 6 - 4th is reading day) Introduction to Marie de France and her, well, France. Love and Marriage: Wife of Bath’s Prologue & Tale and Franklin's Tale (CT); Le Fresne & Bisclavret (Marie de France).

Week seven: (Oct. 11-13) Love and Marriage: LBA:269-325(Don Carnal; Doña Cuaresma); Dec III:2 (Il palafraniere); III:3 (the wife’s confession); III:8 (Ferondo).     Library research session, location TBA (10/13; during class time).                         

Week eight: (Oct. 18-20) Sexual Love (fabliaux): Dec: VII:8 (Sismonda);VIII:3 (Calandrino and the Magic Stone); LBA: 27-31;39;233-261; Miller’s tale & Reeve’s Tale (CT); Yonec, Laustic, Guigemar & Equitan (Marie de France)            Second Guest Lecture 10/18: “Texts and Temptation” E.Michael Gerli (TBA). Presentation: Group 3. Fourth reaction paper due: 10/20.

Week nine: (Oct. 25-27) Sexual Love (clerical/nuns, etc.) Dec: I:1 (Ser Ciappelletto);LBA: 421-425 (clerical celibacy); Shipman's Tale (CT); Eliduc (Marie de France); working bibliography due.

Week ten: (Nov. 1-3) Sexual Love: LBA: 165-219 (Doña Endrina); Dec: II:3 (Alessandro);II:5 (Andreuccio);II:7 (Alatiel); final paper outline due. Presentation: Group 4.

Week eleven: (Nov. 8-10) Death, Sex and Love: LBA 327-393 (Doña Garoza) ; annotated bibliography due. Fifth reaction paper due: 11/10.

Week twelve: (Nov. 15-17) Death, Sex and Love: Dec: IV:1 (Tancredi);IV:5 (Lisabetta);IV:9 (Guiglielmo Guardastagno); V:8 (Nastagio degli Onesti);V:9 (Federico egli Alberighi). The Tragedy of Troilus (T&C: BKS III-V)   . Presentation: Group 5.

Week thirteen: (Nov. 22 -Nov. 24th=break) Art of Love (Michael Camille) LBA: 61-97 (7 deadly sins); first draft of final paper due (600 words minimum). Third Guest Lecture: (TBA) Felicia Else: Late Medieval European Art.

Week fourteen: (Nov. 29-Dec. 1) Art of Love; research reports.

Week fifteen: (Dec. 6-8) conclusion; research reports ; final draft of paper due (12/8).
 

Course Evaluation:

Group presentations: 20%

Reaction Papers: 20%

Preparation & Participation:

You are expected to be present, prepared, and ready to participate in each and every class period. "Preparation," for this class, entails a fair amount of reading and thinking before each class: although all of the reading for this class is in modern English in accessible editions, there is a reasonable amount of it, and much of it will be new. Reading assigned for a particular week should be completed before the relevant class period; read ahead whenever possible. Also take care to read the introductions and notes carefully, as these will provide the context for some of the more alien and/or confusing aspects. Some find participating in class discussions to be fun and easy, while others find it threatening and uncomfortable. You need not be a big talker to do well in this class (although it usually doesn't hurt!) but you do need to be prepared to answer an occasional question, articulate intelligent confusion, or voice the odd query (about the subject matter at hand rather than, say, grading procedures!).

Weekly Quizzes:

We have a lot of material to cover this term, and much of it will be new to you and may seem alien at first; it is therefore vital that you keep abreast of the regular reading.  To ensure that you have a regular impetus to do so, we will have a series of short (10 minute maximum) quizzes. If you are late or absent we will have moved on, and quizzes may not be made up. These quizzes will be structured to test your basic comprehension of the material, not to trick you in any way, so if you’ve done the reading you should be all right.

Reaction Papers:

Each student must prepare a series of 500-600 word (2 page) Reaction Papers. You may write about whatever strikes your fancy: What is interesting? What is boring? What relates to post-modern life? What is entirely alien? What is offensive? Why do you feel the way that you do about it? Say what's on your mind about the texts/discussions, but don't fail to examine your own reactions, perceptions, and preconceptions. Generally speaking, what is most important about these exercises is your attempt to assimilate class discussions, readings from the texts, and your own intellectual and emotional responses. Try to react substantively with the material, and feel free to take some risks; as long as it is clear that you have put some time and thought into these exercises, you will do quite well on this portion of the course. As these exercises are meant to spur and extend class discussions, they may not be made up. There are five papers, corresponding to the five primary themes of the class, due at the beginning of class, on the following dates: 9/1(mystical love); 9/15 (allegorical love); 9/29 (marriage); 10/20 (sexual love); 11/10 (death).

Group Presentations:

Students will be divided into 5 groups, corresponding to the themes of the course: Courtly Love, Marriage, Sexual Love, Clerical Love, and Death. In consultation with the instructors, these groups will compose and deliver 10-15 minute presentations during relevant class periods in weeks 4, 5, 8, 10, and 12. Each report should provide the audience with a basic introduction to the topic.  To go along with its report, each group should prepare a handout for the class; this handout should give a short synopsis (outline form is fine) of the main points.  With this handout the group must include an annotated bibliography of at least 5 works which would be helpful in learning more about the topic at hand. Both the handout and the annotated bibliography must be typed, double-spaced, clear, and helpful; bring enough copies of each for all of your classmates (and two for us).  Pictures, diagrams, audio-visual aids, and clever illustrations are highly recommended.  Late handouts/bibliographies are not acceptable.  We expect to point you in the right direction as you research these topics, but bear in mind that part of the exercise is the basic research involved in compiling a bibliography and summarizing information. 

Individual Presentation:

By the end of week five, each student must have chosen a topic for individual research. We will provide you a with a list of possible topics, but the choice is up to you; though we wish to facilitate the process, individual research is largely just that. During the last few class meetings, each student will hand out an annotated bibliography and speak briefly about the fruits of his or her research. “Annotated” means that you provide a brief (25-100 word) overview of each item, including your assessment of its value to your classmates.  The format of this bibliography should conform with MLA guidelines.  Due to the size of the class, such presentations will be limited to 2-3 minutes.

Final Paper:

The final paper should illustrate your mastery of critical and scholarly materials as well as your ability to interact profitably with Medieval texts and ideas. The topic is wide open, but we will provide you with a list of possible topics. In this paper you should stake out your position regarding your topic in the context of other scholarly voices.  It is difficult to give precise guidelines for such an assignment, but it would be reasonable to expect that you will deal at some length with a minimum of 2 primary (Medieval) texts and a minimum of 5 secondary (modern critical) articles or books. The composition of the final research paper will be an incremental process; students will be evaluated on all stages (from topic sentence to final draft), and will be expected to complete a research journal, documenting their search for relevant materials. This essay should include 3,000-5,000 words.

Final Exam:

The exam will combine short-answer identification of key terms and concepts with passage identifications and essay questions. The Final Exam will be take-home in format, and will be due during the appropriate finals slot. The exam is intended to give you an opportunity to display how well you have absorbed the reading and discussion material, as well as to give us a chance to gauge your mastery of critical analysis.