ENGL 514

Fall 2014 All Classes

All Classes

Seminar in Medieval Literature

Credit: 4 hours.

Intensive study of selected texts, genres, themes, or theoretical issues in medieval British literature (usually focusing on either Old English or Middle English texts), or of scholarly methods in medieval studies (such as editing, paleography, or bibliography and methods of historical research).

Same as MDVL 514. May be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: A college course devoted entirely to an aspect of medieval studies or consent of instructor.

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ENGL 514 class schedule data for fall 2014
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	34487	Lecture-Discussion	E	3:00PM -4:50PM	W	English Building	Barrett, R	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/14-12/10/14 Section Title: Middle English's Greatest Hits Section Info: Topic Section E: Middle English's Greatest Hits In this seminar, we'll undertake a survey of Middle English literature from approximately 1200 to 1500 CE, concentrating on those works that graduate students most need to know as practicing medievalists and early modernists: Ancrene Wisse, a thirteenth-century guide for female recluses; Havelok the Dane and Bevis of Hampton, chivalric romances featuring border-crossing heroes; William Langland's Piers Plowman, a series of vision quests to save England's soul; John Gower's Confessio Amantis, a lover's penance for his misdeeds; Thomas Hoccleve's Series, a fraught attempt to cure madness through narrative; Julian of Norwich's Shewings, a recluse's account of her communications with God; The Book of Margery Kempe, a English housewife's autohagiography; Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, a history of King Arthur's rise and fall; and Robert Henryson's Moral Fables, witty recastings of Aesopian tales. (Geoffrey Chaucer and the Gawain-poet have been left off this reading list to make room in the graduate curriculum for other interesting Middle English works.) Sex/gender will be an obvious concern of the class, as will nation/region, natureculture, and narrativity itself. We will be reading all of our texts in well-glossed Middle English editions, usually from the TEAMS Middle English Texts series?an option that gives us access to free, keyword-searchable online versions of most of the works. Expect to read relevant literary criticism as well! Your written work for the course will consist of one or two short diagnostic pieces early in the semester followed by the multi-stage production of an article-length research essay. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.