ROMANCE IN THE WESTERN MIDDLE
AGES
|
HSS 403, Spring
2016 |
Professor Burt Kimmelman
|
Website: http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma
PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ARE NOT ADEPT AT WRITING IN
ENGLISH, AND IF YOU ARE NOT ADEPT AT
READING LITERATURE AND BEING ABLE TO ANALYZE IT, THEN YOU SHOULD
NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS COURSE (INSTEAD YOU SHOULD ENROLL IN A SENIOR
SEMINAR THAT IS NOT CONCERNED WITH LITERATURE).
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will examine major literary works of Western
medieval Romance (not to be confused with the literature of Romanticism, written
in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century). This Romance literature
was a product of an extended period known as the high and late Middle Ages (the
course will specifically focus on Romance literature created starting in the
twelfth century and continuing on through fourteenth century). In
particular, the course will consider the medieval concept of romance as
it is embedded in notions of love, chivalry, adventure, fate and free will,
social and/or economic class, as well as in the contexts of feudal economic and
political systems. Literary works will be compared with each other and will be
read within the framework primarily of their respective times (although some
reflection upon how they are both like and different from modern literature will
inevitably occur).
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).
Course Procedures, an Introduction
COURSE TEXTS
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):
Glossary of Terms and
Definitions
Other Online Literary
Resources
See
also:
Humanities Resources Links (http://eies.njit.edu/~kimmelma/humanities.htm).
Writing Guides Links (http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma/writing.html).
Documentation
Guides Links (http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma/documentation.html).
Abbreviations for Marking
Papers
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
* Final examination, comprehensive,
essay in format, open-book.
* Two papers, the first of
about six hundred words, which will take the form of a Term Paper
Announcement (see full description below^) consisting of a Working Title and
Subtitle, a Thesis Statement (one sentence if possible--the sentence can
be long), 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
your future term paper but rather a description in detail of how you intend to
prove your thesis statement, and will require that substantial research will
have been done already), 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^); the second paper, the Term Paper, is to be of 1500 to 3000
words plus bibliography, and must be a researched, fully-documented
discursive, original and critical, polemical and otherwise argumentative essay
that includes at least some detailed literary analysis (see below^^), along with
a bibliography of all sources both primary and secondary (as suggested above, the bibliography is
not to be considered part of your word count), including at least three
secondary sources, one of them hard copy, excluding encyclopedias, dictionaries
and textbooks (these may be used but will not be counted among the required
secondary sources). The term paper topic
is open although the topic must have something to do with medieval literary
Romance during the period the course covers, and yet it must be approved ahead of time
by the instructor.
N.B.: Research Term Paper assignments
can only be credited when they are submitted in order (i.e., the Term Paper will
not be read unless it is preceded by the Term Paper Announcement).
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, and should use
a 12' font. If on occasion use is made of the ideas or words of someone
else in one's writing, then the source(s) of those ideas and/or words must be
cited; that is, when appropriate, papers 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 (in the proper
section of the course homepage), as attachments, using a proper indentifying
subject line.
* Conference postings of various kinds. As a minimum, each week you must post a comment (of 100-150 words) that is a response to the week's assigned reading; you must also post a response (of 50-100 words) to another student's initial posted comment on the week's reading. All writing must be spell checked and as best as you can grammar checked, must be in standard English and must employ standard writing protocols (the way you write when, for instance, you send text messages on your phone may very well not be acceptable for our online discussions or any other writing you will be asked to do in our course).
* In-class, on-site reports, one a group report on a week's reading assignment, the second an individual report on the term paper project (each report must be both oral and visual, using projections of images and the like).
N.B.: Failure
to participate in class discussions regularly online 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. Also, more
than three unexcused absences will be grounds for automatic course failure;
three latenesses will be considered the equivalent of an absence. Failure to
submit the final exam will result in disqualification of the various papers
that are part of the term paper project.
^Term Paper Announcement:
Consists of 1) a descriptive paper
title and subtitle, 2) a one-sentence thesis statement that includes the point
of your argument, the breadth of that argument, and the argument’s significant
concepts and details (the sentence can be very long and contain a number of
clauses, and can employ one semicolon), 3) a one- or more-paragraph 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, 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).
^^Term Paper:
Consists of: 1) a descriptive paper
title and subtitle, 2) a full-length 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.
N.B.: While one resesarch paper source must be hard copy--and
there is no substitute for physically going to a library to do research--a
downloaded article from one of the NJIT or Rutgers library's databases can be
considered as a hard copy source (it is best to check with the instructor about
the suitability of such an article).
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 it works).
COURSE SCHEDULE
(see in Moodle for specific due dates,
individual and group assignments, group membership
etc.)
Week
1: Introducing ourselves and general introduction to the course.
Week 2: Background readings on the Middle Ages
(click here: http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma/hss403RomanceHybridBackground.html);
The Art of Courtly
Love Introduction and
pp. 27-36, 68-83,
107-41, 151-212.
Week 3: Lyrics
of the Troubadours, Trouvères, Minnesänger, and Dolce Stil Novisti
(click here: http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma/hss403romanceDLLoveLyrics.html).
Weeks 4
& 5: Ywain,
pp. v-113.
Week 6:
The Lais of Marie De France, Introduction and pp. 41-126.
Weeks 7
& 8: 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). Term Paper Announcement or Précis
due.
Weeks 9 & 10:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Introduction and Parts 1-4.
Weeks 11&
12: Troilus and
Criseyde, Introduction and Books 1-5.
Weeks 13 - 15:
Individual oral/visual reports on term paper. Portfolio of Eight Best Posts
due Week 15. Week 16: Researched and Fully Documented
Term Paper, and Final Examination
due.
COURSE GRADE
Term Paper Announcement, 10%
End of Term Research Paper, 20%
Final Examination, 35%
In-Class
Participation, 5%
Portfolio of Eight Best Individual Posts (not including
introduction to the class), 5%
Initial Posts in
Response to Weekly Readings, 10%
Online Responses to Another Student's Initial Post, 5%
Reports (group report--5%, individual report--5%), 10%
Extra Credit Essay, 5%
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
Background for Doing Literary
Analysis and Explanations for Doing Group Work (text and
links)
Writing
Assignments (descriptions and helpful links)
Using the Student Presentation
Tool
Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
