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Click on each heading to jump to: Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Attendance Be here! This course will only be productive for us if each student is a fully involved participant. I know life is uncertain: You may miss one class meeting without penalty. But on-time attendance is required at all other class meetings unless you have obtained my permission in advance or can document a medical or family crisis after the event. Every unexcused absence after the first will bring your final grade down. Missing five or more classes will result in an automatic failure. It should be clear to you that if you miss class or come in late, you are responsible for finding out what you have missed from a classmate. I will only take on this responsibility when I am notified in advance of an excused absence (e.g., a religious holiday), or when I am requested to do so by an academic advisor or a doctor after an excused absence. This is true not only of written assignments but also reading and posting assignments, changes to the course syllabus, etc.
Preparation and Participation You should read all of the assigned text, or view the assigned film, at least once before the corresponding class meeting, and come to class ready not only to listen but to participate in discussion and in group and individual exercises. Always bring the assigned text and writing materials with you. Excellent participation involves listening as well as offering comments, and taking notes. Show respect for your fellow classmates—each of you has a unique perspective to share. A significant percentage of your final grade will be based on the quality of your preparation and participation.
Written Assignments and Exams Use the Quick Grade-Improver Checklist as a coversheet and guide for written assignments. Assignments are due at the beginning of class: 11:30 a.m. Any paper turned in late will lose 1/3 of a grade (i.e., a drop from B to B-) for each 24-hour period that passes after the deadline. I can not accept assignments on disk or over e-mail. Retain copies of the work you submit for this course, either in the on-line writing room or in a folder or binder until the end of this semester; you will need to look through your work as a whole to complete your final evaluation.
Grading Breakdown (with dates): Your final grade will be based on the below percentages. Any penalty for habitual lateness or missed classes will be deducted from this total.
15% Preparation and Participation (all semester long, starting today) 15% Comparative Exercise (Th Sept 26) 15% First Paper (Th Nov 9) 20% Second Paper (Th Dec 5) 15% Mid-Term Exam (Th Oct 26) 20% Final Exam (TBA)
Note on Student Support If you have a disability and you will need accommodations in order to complete our course requirements, please contact the Ross Center immediately. Full contact information for the Center listed on our Resources page. Many other student resources, including individual tutoring, special help for international students, and honors program information, are available from Academic Support Services (see our Resources page). Note on Plagiarism All work is expected to be the student’s own original work, except where relevant sources are appropriately documented. The presentation of another’s ideas or phrasing as one’s own is theft of intellectual property. The penalties for plagiarism, including the unacknowledged use of material taken from the internet, are a grade of F for the course and a recommendation of disciplinary action by the University.
Except for the required film, all of these texts are available for purchase at the UMass Bookstore.
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales: Fifteen Tales and the General Prologue. Eds. V. A. Kolve and Glending Olson. Second Edition. New York: Norton, 2005.
Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. Ed. A. C. Cawley. Everyman Edition. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1974. Revised 1993, Reprint 2004.
Beowulf: A Verse Translation with Critical Materials. Ed. Daniel Donoghue. Trans. Seamus Heaney. First edition. New York: Norton, 2001.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo, and Pearl. Trans. J.R.R. Tolkien. Reissue edition. New York: Del Rey, 1979.
Sir Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur. Ed. Stephen H. A. Shepherd. New York: Norton, 2004.
Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose. First Harvest Edition. New York: Harvest Books, 1994.
You will need to buy or to rent (for multiple viewings) Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Dir. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. Film. Python Pictures, 1974. Not available at the UMass Bookstore.
In addition to these texts, additional information sheets and texts extracts will be handed out in class and posted on our course website.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Week 1 Tu September 5 Course Introduction. Th September 7 Old English and Epic. Read “Old English Language and Poetics” and the Contexts section in Heaney’s Beowulf and extracts from Trehearne’s anthology. Look at and listen to the Electronic Introduction to Old English on-line (see our Resources page).
Week 2 Tu September 12 (Add/Drop Period ends) An Irish Beowulf? Read Heaney’s Beowulf, his “Translator’s Introduction,” and Donoghue’s “The Philologer Poet.” Th September 14 Heroes and Other Monsters. Read Tolkien and Frank articles.
Week 3 Tu September 19 Who are ‘We English’? Read extract from Manning’s Chronicle. Th September 21 Hagiography: Purity or Porn? Read The Life of Saint Margaret.
Week 4 Tu September 26 Middle English Romance. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parts I-II. **Comparative Exercise due** Th September 28 Three Exchanges and Three Strikes. Read SGGK, Part III-IV.
Week 5 Tu October 3 Reflecting on Gawain's Quest. Re-read SGGK. Th October 5 A New Journey. Read the introduction to the Canterbury Tales and the General Prologue—use the Geoffrey Chaucer Website for language, pronunciation, and interlinear translation help.
Week 6 Tu October 10 What is Chaucer? Read the Parson’s Prologue, and Retraction, and Donaldson’s and Nolan’s articles. Th October 12 Trust me, I’m Lying. Read the Pardoner’s Prologue.
Week 7 Tu October 17 Killing Death. Read the Pardoner’s Tale. Th October 19 The Not Quite Dead Author. Read Sir Topas and Melibee and Barthes extract.
Week 8 Tu October 24 Performative Language. Read the Friar’s Tale and Austin/Searle extract. Th October 26 **Mid-Semester Exam Today**
Week 9 Tu October 31 (Halloween) Medieval Drama: The Theatre of Torture. Read the York Crucifixion. Th November 2 All the World is Staged. Read Everyman.
Week 10 Tu November 7 Edible Babies. Read the Wakefield Second Shepherd’s Play. Th November 9 A Wheatley Cycle? **First Paper NOT due--CHANGE! NOW due Tu Nov 14** In-class scene exercises.
Week 11 Tu November 14 Arthurian Romance, Again. Read introductory materials to Le Morte Darthur, “How Uther...,” and “The tale of Balyn and Balan.” Look at LMD companion website and Malory preview page. **First Paper due** Th November 16 Grail Fever. Read LMD “The Noble Tale of the Sankgreal” and translations from the Queste del Saint Graal in Sources and Backgrounds.
Week 12 Tu November 21 Arthur’s Dead, Dead, Dead. Read LMD “The Deth of Arthur” and Sources and Background’s accounts of Arthur’s death in the Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Morte le Roi Artu Th November 23 (Thanksgiving) NO CLASS
Week 13 Tu November 28 Death of the Historian. Watch Monty Python’s Holy Grail twice. Th November 30 How Medieval is Monty? Watch MPHG again.
Week 14 Tu December 5 The Manuscript and the Modern. Read The Name of the Rose, up to the Third Day (or end if you prefer). **Second Paper NOT due--CHANGE! NOW due Tu Dec 12** Th December 7 Eco-ing the Past? Read NR to the end and the Postscript.
Last Class Tu December 12 A Review **Second Paper due**
**Final Exam** Mon December 18, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
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