Medieval English Literature - 2007

Medieval English Literature
Litt 3261
Fall 2007
MWF 12:45 - 2:00
B002

Ken Tompkins
Office: C119
Office Hours: MWF 11:10 – 12:35
652-4497 – ken@loki.stockton.edu

Introduction

This is your basic, off-the-shelf Medieval survey with a couple of
differences to all the other Medieval surveys being taught this fall.
One of the differences is the number of texts that we will encounter
during the term. Mine has more. The problem, of course, is that unlike
almost every other LITT class, this once covers about 1000 years of
history. That’s a long time and a great deal of literature. It is also
incredibly varied literature so that we have to consider romances,
fabliaux, sermons, personal narratives, didactic literature, satire and
all sorts of minor types in at least two distinct linguistic periods.
Add to this fact that texts for all of this literature go out of print
amazingly fast and that some of them are only available in the original
language and some are only available as translations.

It may not seem like a problem to design such a course but let me
assure you it really is. I probably spend more time thinking about what
I want you to read in this course, which textbook, how much they cost,
translated or not, how they might fit together for a term than any
other course I teach.

The ride is a good one but it is long, very twisty, a tad dangerous,
requiring work to stay alert, full of surprises and sometimes passing
strange.

Texts

I consider this a heavy reading list in that there is a lot to read and
some of it is in a language we don’t exactly speak. I will give
you every support I can but, in the last analysis, you have to do the
work. I am very aware of the problems – keep in mind that I read the
texts just like you do – and will adjust the load when I can. Sometimes
I won’t be able to.

Here are the texts:

Black, Jos.ed,, et. al. Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Medieval Period, Broadview Press
ISBN – 155111609X

Donaldson, E.T., Piers Plowman, Norton Critical Edition
ISBN — 0393960110

Jones, G., Eirik the Red, Oxford University Press
ISBN — 0192835300

Malory, T. Morte D’Arthur, New American Library
ISBN – 0451528166

These texts can be purchased online or in the College Bookstore.

Preparation For Class

Each term every teacher at Stockton writes about preparing for class.
We do it because we hope that this term will somehow be better and you
really will have read the text, thought about it and are prepared to
discuss it. We hope and pray each term that this will be the term when
all of you won’t think first about whether what you are going to say
will make you look like a dork to the rest of the class. We hope beyond
hope that you will desperately desire to engage the text – and maybe my
mind – so that you can understand what humans thought in 800. None of
this happens – usually.

I assume that you all think the best classes are those where everyone
participates, your opinion is genuinely respected, you don’t look like
a dork and you learn more in those classes that you ever have in
classes that don’t work that way. Each LITT faculty uses different
tricks/methods/tactics to elicit discussion. If mine fail, it isn’t
because I don’t WANT discussion; it’s because I have failed to draw it
out of you – all of this assumes that you are ready for
discussion. Many of you aren’t. Life intrudes, love fails, jobs
demand, bodies get ill – I understand this perhaps better than you
know. All of us grit our teeth and get on with it.

So read the texts, come eager to exchange, get over how you might
appear and, for one hour, put EVERYTHING else aside, make the
discussion the most important event you can participate in and do it.
I’m ready for you.

Papers

There will be 3 papers of at least 2000 words submitted to me digitally
– as an email attachment. I will provide the topics for you to write
on. I will most likely ask you to read some critical articles but will limit
those to really important ones. Each paper will count for 1/3 of your
final grade.

All papers will be submitted digitally; they will be sent to me as attachments to an email message. I expect them — even though they are digital — to be as carefully written, spell-checked, entitled, etc. as any work that you hand in on paper. There should be no difference in presentation between a digital paper and a paper paper.

Email Addresses

Each term there seems to be considerable confusion about which of two
email address to use. It is really quite simple. Here is the address
that is used exclusively to submit class papers:

medlitf07@comcast.net

This address is not to be used for anything else than sending me your paper.

If you want to talk to me – and I hope you do – use my college email address:

ken@loki.stockton.edu

My email program is online 24/7 so I will usually see your message
within a short time and will try to respond to it when I see it.
Because I don’t check the Comcast address all the time, your message
may remain there for days without being answered. You don’t want that
and neither do I so write to me at my Stockton address.

My office is C119.

Nasty Bits

There are, of course, rules. For example, I generally do not offer
incompletes (to see the acceptable reasons for incompletes, look in the
Bulletin). I expect you to follow the Classroom Etiquette booklet for
guidance on classroom behavior. If you don’t have a copy or somehow
have never read a copy, let me know and I will get you one. Follow it!

Academic Honesty

The Literature program expects all the work you turn in to be your own. If you are found to have represented the work or ideas of others as your own, intentionally, or unintentionally, you will face serious consequences, as follows:
1. Any student who is found to have plagiarized a paper or assignment, in full or in part, must meet with the professor of the class for which the paper is written.
2. The professor will review the suspect work with the student.
3. If this is the first time the student has been found to have plagiarized, he/she will receive an “F” for that paper or assignment and/or the course.
4. For second offenses of plagiarism, the student will receive an F for the course.
Additionally, and in accordance with Stockton College policy, the Literature Program faculty will report all instances of plagiarism to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Students may be subject to discipline by the college, such as being placed on academic probation or expelled.
http://www2.stockton.edu/bulletin/undergrad/chap7.pdf

LITT 3261
Medieval English Literature
Ken Tompkins (C119)
ken@loki.stockton.edu

This schedule is very likely to change.

Sept 5 Beowulf – BABL, pp. 36 - 84

7 Beowulf

10 Beowulf

12 Elegies – BABL, pp. 16 - 22

14 Elegies

17 Bede – BABL, pp. 1 – 15, Dream of the Rood – BABL, p. 23 – 25

19 Maxims, Riddles and Charms/Battle of Maldon - BABL – pp. 27 - 35

21 Mandeville – BABL, pp. 486 - 504

24 Geoffrey of Monmouth – BABL, pp. 135- 157

26 Marie de France – BABL, pp. 158 - 187

28 Marie de France – First Paper Due

Oct 1 Havelock the Dane (online)

3 Havelock the Dane

5 Sir Orfeo – BABL, 213 – 222,

8 Eirik the Red – Jones text

10 Eirik the Red

12 Eirik the Red

15 Eirik the Red

17 Gawain and the Green Knight – BABL, pp. 235 - 304

19 Gawain and the Green Knight

22 Middle English Lyrics – BABL, pp. 188 - 199

24 Middle English Lyrics

26 Chaucer

29 Chaucer – Second Paper Due

31 Chaucer

Nov 2 Chaucer

5 Julian of Norwich – BABL, pp. 505 - 522

7 Julian of Norwich

9 Preceptorial Advising

12 Margery Kempe – BABL, pp. 523 - 546

14 Piers Plowman – Donaldson text

16 Piers Plowman

19 Piers Plowman

21 Piers Plowman

26 Quem Quaeritis/Noah’s Flood – BABL, pp. 585 - 597

28 Second Shepherd/Everyman – BABL, pp. 598 – 615, 664 - 667

30 Morte D’Arthur – Baines text

Dec 3 Morte D’Arthur

5 Morte D’Arthur - Final Paper Due

7 Morte D’Arthur - Class Meets 11:30 – 2:00