THE GOAL: We call it love, True Love, Eternal Love, Forever Love – and yet, is it transcendental? is love so unchanging? And let's talk about sex – arguably the oldest human activity – but has sex always been the same?  is it such a well-defined category of human experience?  This course sets out to answer first these questions and then many others.  In many ways, we take love and sex for granted: some discussion, song, film or poem will always address love and sex, evoke them, make them present; so much so that we can easily be led to believe that they have always existed in the same bewildering form in which we experience it.  But our exploration of the 12th through 15th centuries promises surprises in the changing definition of love and sex.  Denis de Rougemont once said, "Love was invented in the 12th century."  We will find out how.  Andreas Capellanus, a 12th century monk, wrote "Love is suffering."  We will find out why.  In writing her love poems, called lais, Marie de France invented a metaphor for love that remains poignant and palpitating to this day.  We will find out what makes that metaphor so gripping.  The way we will find all these things out is through reading original texts from the Middle Ages (in translation, of course), through studying medieval images of love, and through experiencing modern film's take on love and sex in the Middle Ages.  Why do American audiences find the Middle Ages so fascinating?  Why are there still so many filmic explorations of the period?  What do we get out of it?  Why does a place such as "Medieval Times" in Schaumburg, where live jousts are held for huge audiences, exist?  I think that it is crucial in studying these seemingly transcendental concepts to analyze their manifestations within a specific historical period.  At the same time, it will be key for us to re-examine contemporary love in the light of medieval love.  With this in mind, I will ask you to evoke modern love examples within our larger discussion of medieval love.  So, succinctly put, the goal is to understand the origins of the Western culture of love and sex through an examination of their first manifestations in the European Middle Ages.back to top

MATERIALS AND CLASS PREPARATION: Modern technology will be keeping the costs of this course down.  All of the readings, carefully selected excerpts of the best of medieval chivalric literature, await you on BLACKBOARD.  All of the images, an exquisite collection of medieval secular art, await you on LUNA.  In order for our time together to be fulfilling, I ask that you read the texts and, if possible, take a preliminary look at the images, for class the next day.  The films will all be screened in class and processed through our "Everybody's a Critic" sheets.  You can use these sheets and notes from class discussions to inform your journals (2-3 reaction pages every night – you can write in your own voice, that of one of the characters that we've discussed, that of a medieval personage using the art objects that we'll have studied – it's wide open, I only ask that you engage with the material, that you think this stuff through and see what kind of insight we can gain collectively on love and sex (and maybe other things, too!).  We'll be using the journals as the basis for class discussions and I will be picking them up intermittently.  Between the readings, images, and journals, you can count on about an hour and a half of preparation for the class.back to top

REQUIREMENTS: It has been my experience that Winter Term flies by, so every class is a must.  The Winter Term office's policy is that students should not miss any class.  Life being what is it (often complicated), I offer one reprieve when you can miss a day – still, I hope that you won't miss any, because the material is so fascinating!!!  Winter Term is has three grades: S (satisfactory), D (D), and U (Unsatisfactory), so it is essentially pass/fail.  In my book, you pass if you're prepared and engaged and you fail if you're not – pretty straightforward!  There are no tests, no papers, no trials by fire - just a big, fun final project to celebrate our time together.back to top

THE TRIP TO CHICAGO: This is going to be great!  We'll leave at around 8 a.m. and head straight for the city.  First stop: the Art Institute of Chicago where we'll see medieval armor, locks, and other objects of everyday life.  Then, lunch, downtown; then, the Martin d'Arcy Museum of Art at Loyola University on the north side, where the curators have prepared a tour especially for us entitled "The Art of Courtship and Marriage."  Finally, we will head way up north to the suburb of Schaumburg, IL and feast at Medieval Times, while enjoying a real live, bonafide joust!  Truly, this is an incredible world, where the medieval is so alive in the modern.  The cost for the whole day is $50 (thank you for subsidizing us, Winter Term office!), which is pretty incredible – plus whatever donation you wish to give to the Art Institute, lunch and whatever else you may wish to purchase on your own. This all happens on Friday, January 21st – you can count on being home by around 1 or 2 in the morning of the 22nd. back to top

THE FINAL PROJECT: I have screened dozens and dozens of films in preparation for this class, seeking the ones that would enthrall us all the most – there remain two texts for which I desperately wish a good film existed.  The first is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (there is a film, starring Sean Connery believe it or not, but it is absolutely horrifically bad in every way imaginable), and the second is The Book of the Love-Smitten Heart (it was only translated from the Middle French into English in 2001 and so is too new for Hollywood to have processed it yet).  Once you have gotten to know both chivalrous tales, I will invite you to divide yourself into two teams and come up with a modern scenario that gets at the heart of the story.  YouÕll then write out the whole story and act out one scene from it (this can be your favorite scene, the one you think is most crucial to the tale, etc.).  We will present our mini-modern films on the last day of class, our Love Fest. back to top

THE SCHEDULE: back to top

Let's jump into the fray!

Wednesday, January 5: Introduction

Thursday, January 6: Big Daddy of Medieval Love: Capellanus
The Text: Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love [c. 1180]. trans. by John Jay Parry. Columbia University Press, 1960: 38-36, 167-77, 184-6.
The Images: Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Courts
The Film: The Lion in Winter  (1968)
The Journal Topic: popular guides for love

Friday, January 7: Big Daddy of Medieval Sex: Ovid
The Text: Ovid, The Art of Love [2-1 B.C.].  trans. Rolfe Humphries.  Indiana University Press, 1957:137-44, 171-3, 176-8.
The Images: Medieval Sex and the Siege of the Castle of Love
The Film: History Channel's The History of Sex; the Middle Ages (2000)
The Journal Topic: songs about sex

Monday, January 10: Kinder, Gentler Medieval Love: Ibn Hazm
The Text: Ibn Hazm, The Ring of the Dove [c. 1050]. trans. A. J. Arberry. Luza Oriental, 1994: 33-45, 68-70, 197-201.
The Images: Hawking, the Hunt for the Unicorn
The Film: Ladyhawke (1985)
Journal Topic: modern love metaphors

Tuesday, January 11: Tristan and Isolde, I: Medieval Tale, Modern Opera

The Text: Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan [c. 1210]. trans. A. T. Hatto.  Penguin Books, 1960: 191-204, 220-239, 349-35.
The Images: Tristan and Isolde, gardens and trysts
The Film: Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (1857)
Journal Topic: modern places and spaces of love

Wednesday, January 12: Tristan and Isolde, II: Modern Tale, Modern Film

The Text: Steven Millhauser, The King in the Tree. Knopf, 2003: 141-55, 160-3, 200-03, 206-09, 212-17, 232-42.
The Images: Tristan and Isolde, tiles and manuscripts
The Film: The Eternal Return (1943)

Thursday, January 13: Abelard and HŽloise: Forbidden Love

The Text: Abélard and Héloise, The Letters. [1120s]. trans. betty Radice. Penguin Books, 1974: 109-36.
The Images: Mystical love
The Film: Stealing Heaven (1989)
Journal Topic: modern-day forbidden love – who is not allowed to love today?

Friday, January 14: The Fine Art of Pining for Love
The Text: Marie de France, Guigemar [1150s].  trans. Glyn S. burgess and Keith Busby. Penguin Books, 1986: 43-55.
The Images: medieval love songs (music)
The Film: Princess Bride (1987)

Monday, January 17: A Knight and His Heart: René d'Anjou

The Text: René d'Anjou, The Book of the Love-Smitten Heart [c. 1460]. trans. S.V. Gibbs and Kathryn Karczewska.  Routledge, 2001: 3-15, 133-39, 149-59, 197-211, 257-71.
The Images: Romance of the Rose, Book of the Love-Smitten Heart
The Film: discuss film project
Journal Topic: discuss one of the Heart's allegories (his horse being named Free Will, etc.)

Tuesday, January 18: The Coolest Knight: Sir Gawain
The Text: Anynomous (a.k.a. The Pearl Poet), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [c. 1400]. trans. James Winny.  Broadview Press, 1992: 67-111.
The Images: Hunting, banqueting, baths
The Film: discuss film project
Journal Topic: determine a shape for the narrative structure of Sir Gawain's adventures

Wednesday, January 19: Lancelot, Medieval Love Machine, I

The Text: Anonymous, Prose Lancelot [c. 1225]. trans. Corin Corley.  Oxford University Press, 1989: 286-331.
The Images: Lancelot and Guinevere, the kiss
The Film: Lancelot du Lac (1974)
Journal Topic: role of the kiss in modern society/love/sex

Thursday, January 20: Lancelot, Medieval Love Machine, II

The Text: Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart – Lancelot [c. 1180].  trans. William K. Kibbler. Penguin Books, 1991: 244-46, 250-57, 262-65.
The Images: Knights, jousting
The Film: First Knight (1995)

Friday, January 21: MEDIEVAL CHICAGO!!!
Morning: Art Institute of Chicago
Afternoon: The D'Arcy Museum of Art at Loyola University
Evening: Joust at Medieval Times!!!!

Monday, January 24: Love and Laughter

The Text: Henri d'Andeli, Aristotle and Phyllis [c. 1250] commented upon by Ayers Bagley, University of Minnesota. http://education.umn.edu/EdPA/iconics/Lecture_Hall/aristotle.htm
The Images: Aristotle and Phyllis, love hurts
The Film: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Journal Topic: sex jokes today

Tuesday, January 25: Work on Final Projects

Wednesday, January 26: LOVE FEST

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