Romance in the Western Middle Ages

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A LITERATURE COURSE, THE LITERARY TEXTS TO BE READ HAVE BEEN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, THE WRITING ABOUT THEM TO BE DONE IN COHERENT ENGLISH.

IF YOU ARE NOT ADEPT AT READING IN ENGLISH, AND ESPECIALLY LITERATURE, AND IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO WRITE IN ENGLISH SO THAT YOU CAN BE UNDERSTOOD, THEN YOU SHOULD NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS COURSE (INSTEAD YOU SHOULD ENROLL IN A SENIOR SEMINAR THAT IS NOT CONCERNED WITH LITERATURE). THIS COURSE REQUIRES BEING ABLE TO ANALYZE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH AND TO BE ABLE TO WRITE ABOUT IT.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE "COURSE PROCEDURES" LINK IMMEDIATELY BELOW TO FIND OUT HOW THIS COURSE OPERATES AND WHAT WILL BE EXPECTED OF YOU IN IT (THEN YOU SHOULD RETURN TO THIS PAGE AND READ WHAT ELSE YOU FIND HERE).

As the faculty mentor for this distance-learning course, Romance in the Western Middle Ages, I welcome you. There are a number of texts assigned for this course (listed on the course syllabus below), which I hope will provide you with a fertile reading and thinking experience. Besides reading, we will also be doing a lot of writing. There will be frequent postings by you, and by me too, and there will be formal writing assignments, virtually all of them essay in format. It is important to stress at the outset of this course that the course will be very demanding, and, further, given its "distance" and "asynchronous" nature, this course may not be right for you; distance learning is not for everyone. In fact, you would be wise to take a quiz that will help you to determine if you are right for this course; to do so click here. Please seriously and soberly consider if you are ready to be self-directed in carrying out a number of sometimes complicated tasks, and, also, if you are ready to do a lot of reading and writing. This on-line course will require more time, and more intense participation, than a face-to-face course.

We will be conducting our group discussions within the Moodle conferencing system (at moodle.njit.edu), so you will need to have a UCID account to be enrolled in this class’s "conference." To get this account, if you don't have one, phone the NJIT Computing Help Desk at 973-596-2900 or try obtaining directions from NJIT's Information Services website: http://ist.njit.edu. Once you have the account—or if you already have one—please contact me through the Moodle messaging system (not at my normal NJIT eddress, which is to be reserved for emergencies) and provide me with an e-mail address where, if necessary, you can be contacted other than through the Moodle environment or via your NJIT email address. In any case, I may have occasion, if for some reason Moodle would not be working, to write to you at your NJIT eddress, via Highlander Pipeline, so make sure to check that eddress regularly or else to have your mail forwarded from there to an eddress you use often; my messages to you sent via Moodle will go to your NJIT email address .

I look forward to getting to know you, to our exchanges, and otherwise to the sharing of our reading experiences that I think you will find enriching and enlightening.

This course will examine major literary works of Western medieval Romance, and will consider the medieval concept of Romance as it is embedded in notions of love, chivalry, adventure, philosophy, social and/or economic class, as well as feudal economic and political systems. Literary works will be compared with each other and will be read in the contexts of both their own times and the present.

The course aims to inculcate in students a perceptive knowledge of Western medieval Romance literature and culture that flourished principally from the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, as seen through the lens of the social and aesthetic construct of courtly love and chivalry, especially within the European feudal system of the time. To this end online postings, papers and the final exam will provide opportunities for students to create for themselves such an understanding and to demonstrate that knowledge to the other participants in the course, including the instructor. In this regard the course also aims to provide opportunities for improvement of writing ability, and of course reading ability, so that students will be able, through the power of interpretation, to convey to others insights into the assigned literature.

Capellanus, Andreas. The Art of Courtly Love. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Troilus and Criseyde. Tr. Barry Windeatt. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.

Chrétien de Troyes. Ywain: The Knight of the Lion (Yvain, Le Chevalier au Lion). Waveland Press, 1992.

De Lorris, Guillaume, and Jean De Meun. The Romance of the Rose. Trans. Frances Horgan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Marie de France. The Lais of Marie De France. Trans. Glyn S. Burgess, and Keith Busby. New York: Penguin, 1999.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Pearl. Tr. Marie Borroff. New York: W. W. Norton , 2001.

Troubadour, Trouvére, Dolce Stil Nuovo, and Minnesinger Lyrics (required poems are specified here and below in the syllabus):

* Final examination, comprehensive, essay in format, open-book; the exam question(s) will be distributed to you at least a week ahead of time. The exam essay(s) must be uploaded as a Word file in the proper place in the Assignments section of our course in Moodle.

* An end-of-term research paper (the Term Paper), to be 1500 to 3000 words (excluding bibliography) in length; this essay must be a researched, fully-documented, original and critical, discursive, polemical and otherwise argumentative essay that must include at least some detailed literary analysis (see below^^), along with a bibliography of all sources (again, the bibliography is not to be considered part of your word count). The term paper topic is open (although the topic must have something to do with medieval literary romance) but must be approved ahead of time by me.

* A Term Paper Announcement (see full description below^) consisting of a Working Title and Subtitle, a one-sentence Thesis Statement indicating what of a seriously polemical nature is to be proven in your essay, a Description of your future paper’s writing strategy (one paragraph can be enough, but more than one is acceptable—this is not to be a summary of what you think your paper will turn out to be, but rather a narrative describing how you will prove your thesis), and a Bibliography of at least three secondary sources, one of which must be a hard-copy source (see full description of Bibliography requirements below^). A word to the wise: If you don't know the difference between a primary and secondary source then find out right away; I've provided links here and in our Moodle space that will help you with this and all matters regarding researching and writing a polemical research essay.

N.B.: Research Term Paper assignments should be submitted in order, and the TPA should be preceded by your submission of a proposed topic for the paper. Your topic must meet be approved by the instructor. There are Discussion areas where you are expected to post ideas for your paper, and once your idea has been approved where your TPA should also be posted (the TPA can be simple and short but must contain all the elements mentioned above, and this too must be approved). Please don't upload attachments to the discussion forums.

* A group project to be submitted in Power Point at the end of the course. This group-composed document would contain both imagery and text, and would delve into a chosen issue or facet of medieval Romance.

N.B.: All papers must be word processed, double-spaced with one inch margins, spell-checked, and to the best of one's ability grammar-checked. If on occasion use is made of the ideas or words of someone else in one's writing--not only in formally submitted papers but all work you submit in this course, including the weekly posts—then the source(s) of those ideas and/or words must be cited; that is, when appropriate, your writing must be fully documented in MLA format (you must cite sources—using footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical documentation, which include specific page numbers keyed to particular passages in your text, and complete bibliographical information). PAPERS NOT MEETING ALL OF THESE REQUIREMENTS WILL NOT BE READ AND WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. Papers must be submitted to the instructor via Moodle only, as attachments, using a proper indentifying subject line.

* A portofolio of your 8 best posts in the course (your selection). How to create this portfolio: Select by copying and pasting the 8 posts you think best demonstrate your performance in this course in the weekly exchanges of commentary, including the time stamp of each post. Paste the posts in chronological order in a Word file and upload it, at the end of the term, in the appropriate place in the Assignment section of our course in Moodle.

N.B.: Initial posts will receive a grade—but this grade is advisory only, meant only to guide you so you can get a clear sense of the expectations you must meet in our course; however, when I will actually grade a student's posts, at the end of the course, no post will receive a grade lower than the advisory grade, and the ultimate grade for a post could be higher than the advisory grade. (Note also that a grade of "D-" is to be reserved for posted writing that does not conform to the minimum standards as regarding protocols for writing in our course—you are expected, in all posts to the class, to use standard writing protocols and Standard English, to have spell checked your writing before posting it and as best you can to have grammar checked it—don't write as you normally might write when texting or emailing.) A "D-" may also be assigned for posts not meeting the minimum word length (see below).

Initial weekly posts must be a minimum of 100 words and normally not more than 150 words. Secondary posts—i.e., posts in response to initial posts—should be from 50 to 100 words. Follow-up posts, in the form of questions or comments, or in reply to my comments or questions or both, can be of any length. One initial post per weekly reading assignment and two secondary posts are required.

N.B.: Failure to participate in class discussions (i.e., the posts as described above) at a minimally acceptable level will result in disqualification of end-of-term assignments such as the term paper and final exam; such disqualification must inevitably spell failure in the course. In order to pass this course a student must be consistently active in daily/weekly class work starting from the beginning of the course term.

Disqualification of prior work can also result from failure to submit a minimally-acceptable response to the final exam question(s).

Consists of 1) a descriptive paper title and subtitle, 2) a thesis statement that includes the point of your argument, the breadth of that argument, and the argument’s significant concepts and details, 3) a description of the writing or argumentative strategy to be employed in your paper (this is not to be confused with a summary of your projected essay), 4) an alphabetized bibliography of at least three secondary sources, to be listed along with any primary sources to be used, which you plan to consult as part of your research project, presented in proper MLA format (see writing and documentation guidelines above, listed with the course readings), one of which must be a hard-copy source (for the purposes of this assignment encyclopedias, dictionaries, and textbooks will not be considered as counting toward the requisite minimum number of secondary sources, although they can be used in your term paper project and should be listed in your bibliography—but articles obtained from a NJIT or Rutgers database should be considered as "hard copy").

Consists of: 1) a descriptive paper title and subtitle, 2) a full-length polemical essay, 3) a bibliography in MLA format and alphabetized. For the purposes of this assignment, use must be made of at least three secondary research sources (one of them hard copy) excluding textbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries that may also be used and should be cited if used, presented in proper MLA format (see writing and documentation guidelines above, listed with the course readings); encyclopedias, dictionaries, and textbooks will not be considered as counting toward the requisite minimum number of secondary sources, although,again, they can be used in your term paper project and should be listed in your bibliography—but articles obtained from a NJIT or Rutgers database should be considered as "hard copy"—feel free to check with me about the suitability of such an article or for that matter about any of your possible sources).

It is STRONGLY recommended that research begin with the MLA Bibliography (locally to be found at the Rutgers-Newark library research room—ask a librarian there to show you how this database works).

1: Introducing ourselves and general introduction to the course.
2: Background readings on the Middle Ages (click here: http://web.njit.edu/%7Ekimmelma/hss403romanceDLsummerBackground.html); The Art of Courtly Love Introduction and
pp. 27-36, 68-83, 107-41, 151-212.
3: Lyrics of the Troubadours, Trouvères, Minnesänger, and Dolce Stil Novisti
(click here: http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma/hss403romanceDLLoveLyrics.html).
4: Ywain, pp. v-113.
5: The Lais of Marie De France, Introduction and pp. 41-126. Suggest term paper topic in Moodle forum.
6: The Romance of the Rose, Introduction, pp. ix-xxii; pp. 3-58 (ll. 1-3815), pp. 134-38 (ll. 8697-8963), pp. 259-335 (ll. 16707-21780).
7. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Introduction and Parts 1-4. Term Paper Announcment due.
8. Troilus and Criseyde, Introduction and Books 1-5.
9. Group Power Point project, Portfolio of Eight Best Posts, Researched and Fully Documented Term Paper, and Final Examination due.

ABBREVIATIONS FOR MARKING PAPERS

Key: Abbreviation - Meaning
A -     Article
Agr -   Agreement
Awk -   Awkward
CS -   Comma Splice
Dic -   Diction
Exp   - Explain
FS -   Fused Sentences
RO -   Run On Sentence
SF -   Sentence Fragment
Sp -   Spelling
SS   - Sentence Structure
Syn -   Syntax or Word Order
Tr   - Transition
Un   - Unclear
Uncl   - Unclear
Us -   Usage
V -   Verb
Va    - Vague
VF -   Verb Form
VT -   Verb Tense
WF -   Word Form
WW -   Wrong Word