Rationale for the course. "Love is a kind of war, and no assignment for cowards."  Thus spoke Ovid in c. 2 B.C.E. with great pertinence to love and war in the Middle Ages and to the endeavors of this class.  I propose to work with you through three forms of vernacular writing and imagery: war epic poems, Arthurian romances, and allegorical love poetry.  All three of these forms were articulated in the incredibly rich 12^th – 14^th centuries, though often they refer to much earlier periods.  All three of these forms flourished outside the purview (and approval) of the Church.  And all three of these forms interacted with that most troublesome (because uncontrolled) of all entities: the secular image.  Both the texts and images of medieval love and war existed without the sanction or authority of sacred text (i.e. the Bible in its many medieval manifestations).  This "unmoored" quality resulted in an especially productive, volatile and fascinating interaction between orality, memory, writing, and transmission.  The course seeks to be aware of how "timeless" stories move between various verbal and visual forms, what the impacts of those forms are on the stories, and on what happens to them in our modern era (where they are still consistently translated into film and further fiction). 

Classroom participation... is a core element of the course, since this is an "S" course.  There is no option to stay quiet in this class, as part of the goal of the "S" competency at DePauw is to practice students in the art of public speaking.  For us, this will mean something very specifically medieval, but also something, I believe, with modern resonance and pertinence: we are seeking to come to grips with texts whose meanings are hidden at best (strange, incomprehensible, unexpected) – this scenario is one that you will experience many times in your professional (if not personal!) lives, and thus finding ways to discuss and analyze such texts will behoove us all.  It has helped me a great deal in preparing this course, to think of us as a medieval court (not to worry, no costumes or medieval foods involved!) in the sense that we will be gathered as a performative community for the verbal and visual manifestations of these tales.  Try to think of yourself as an active participant in this performative community, as one who will contribute to the understanding and appropriation of these texts and images.

Readings... are copious.  The most significant decision of my many musings about this course may be the insistence that we read all the texts in full.  This holistic (as opposed to episodic) approach to reading results in a great deal of reading (average of 50 pages a session, often more over the week-ends).  But the method behind the madness is to instill a continuity in reading that may bring us a little closer to the medieval experience, in which a text was performed over a series of nights sometimes stretching over a period of weeks.  A second reason for the necessity of reading heavily in this course is to always obtain a sense of the whole: to be able to witness and compare the narrative structures of these three verbal and visual forms.  Occasionally (and here I really have restrained myself!), we will read a critical article about either the text or the images in order to insert a modern scholarly voice into the mix.  These will be found on Blackboard under E-Reserves.  The required books are:

• Anonymous. The Song of Roland. Penguin Books, 1990.
• Kathryn Starkey.  Reading the Medieval Book.  University of Notre Dame Press, 2004.
• Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances. Penguin Books, 1991.
• Gottfried von Strassburg. Tristan. Penguin Books, 1967.
• Anonymous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  Penguin Books, 1974.
• Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun.  The Romance of the Rose. Princeton Univ. Press, 1995.

The "S" Components of the course... are three (3).  Your performance (in every sense of the word) within these components, as well as your classroom participation, will determine your "S" competency.

• Daily passage presentations – I will be inviting you to seek something out in every reading that we do and to find a passage (of 5-10 lines) that in your opinion best expresses that sought-after element.  Please type out the lines, and a 3-5 sentence rationale for your choice.  At random, I will ask 2 people to read their passage and explain their choice during each class session – each of you will, randomly, do this twice during the course of the semester.
• Modern ways of thinking the medieval – These 5 minute informal presentations will occur once for each of you during the semester and invite you to reconfigure a medieval scenario within a modern setting.  We will sign up for these sessions on the first day of class so that you may have time to read ahead, and think through the structures, characters, texts, and images. The goal is to elicit a deeper understanding of the medieval scenario through its modern transposition.
• Final project – These 10 minute formal presentations ask that you recreate the original viewing conditions for a medieval secular image which interacted with a medieval secular text.  You will be very well versed in medieval text through our work in the course, and this project will give you a chance to think through the complex relationship between text and image and offer up a convincing and engaging argument for the experience of your medieval secular image.  Let me make one significant disclaimer up front: how these images were experienced in the Middle Ages continues to utterly stump modern scholars – so I will invite you to engage in both thorough research (I'll help out there) and interpretive creativity (your time to shine).  We will consult about the progress of your research and interpretation during the semester.

Tests... are the ultimate example of the transmission of meaning and understanding from oral to written and thus entirely appropriate for an ÒSÓ class.  They will also serve to provide synthesis to each of our three forms of vernacular text and image.  The tests will be comprised of essays which will invite you to delve more deeply into text/image relationships.

Finally, the Challenges of the class... a last look back at what this syllabus promises.

• the reading – it will be crucial to keep up with the reading both because there is work to turn in every session and because the gains of the course depend on it.
• the balance between text and image/reading and seeing – we will attempt to interweave medieval text with medieval image with modern commentary with your own commentary.  While at times this will seems daunting, and you will wonder why we call this an art history class when we are spending so much time on text and interpretation, we will actually be more closely engaged in what art historians actually do (read copious texts for the analysis and interpretation of just one image)
• the speaking – this orality and oral performance which is at the heart of each and every one of these texts avails this course to the "S" competency with poetic precision.  Speaking, both formally and informally, will be crucial to your experience and success in this class.

Grade breakdown:

• class participation 25%
• daily passage presentations 10%
• modern from medieval 15%
• final presentation 20%
• 3 tests 30%

Our work together:

Week 1: Reading and Seeing in Theory and Practice

Monday, January 30 – Introduction

Wednesday, February 1 – Oral to Written

White, Hayden.  "The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality," in On Narrative. ed. W.J.T. Mitchell. University of Chicago Press, 1981: 1-24. E-Reserves

Friday, February 3 – Written to Visual

Camille, Michael. "Seeing and Reading: Some Visual Implications of Medieval Literacy and Illiteracy," Art History 8 (1985): 26-49. E-Reserves

Week 2: The Song of Roland

Monday, February 6 – Character

Anonymous. The Song of Roland.  [c. 1130-1170] Stanzas 1-176.

Wednesday, February 8 – Gesture

Anonymous.  The Song of Roland. [c. 1130-1170] Stanzas 177-271.

Friday, February 10 – Relics

Anonymous.  The Song of Roland. [c. 1130-1170]  Stanzas 272-298.

Vance, Eugene.  "Style and Value: From Soldier to Pilgrim in the Song of Roland," Yale French Studies (1991): 75-96. JSTOR folder

Week 3: Willehalm

Monday, February 13 – Modern Introduction to a Medieval Manuscript

Starkey, Kathryn.  Reading the Medieval Book.  Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm [c. 1270] Chapters 1-2

Wednesday, February 15 – Performing the Medieval Text

Starkey, Kathryn.  Reading the Medieval Book. Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm [c. 1270] Chapters 3-4

Friday, February 17 – Seeing the Medieval Text

Starkey, Kathryn.  Reading the Medieval Book. Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm [c. 1270] Chapters 5-7

Week 4: Performative Text: Medieval Song

Monday, February 20 – Crusader Songs [12^th c.]

Selections from The Cross of Red: music of love and war from the time of the Crusades.
translations to be handed out

Wednesday, February 22 – Troubadour Songs [13^th-14^th c.]

Selections from Troubadours, Trouv�res, Minstrels. 
translations to be handed out

Friday, February 24 – TEST 1

Week 5: Introduction to the Art of Courtly Love

Monday, February 27 – Classical and Arabic Sources for Medieval Love

Ibn Hazm.  The Ring of the Dove.  [c. 1050] trans. A.J. Arberry.  Luzac Oriental, 1994: 33-45, 68-86, 152-157. E-Reserves

Ovid. The Art of Love [2-1 B.C.].  trans. Rolfe Humphries.  Indiana University Press, 1957: 105-129, 153-178. E-Reserves

Wednesday, March 1 – The Art of Courtly Love Explained

Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love [c. 1180]. trans. by John Jay Parry. Columbia University Press, 1960: 28-33, 151-157, 167-186. E-Reserves

Friday, March 3 – Lancelot and Identity

Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart – Lancelot [c. 1180]. Penguin Books, 1991: pp. 207-225.

Cohen, Jeffrey. "Masoch/Lancelotism," from Medieval Identity Machines.  University of Minnesota Press, 2003: 78-115. E-Reserves

Week 6: A Lot of Lancelot

Monday, March 6 – LancelotÕ' Trials

Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart – Lancelot [c. 1180]. Penguin Books, 1991: pp. 226-267.

Wednesday, March 8 – Lancelot's Tribulations

Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart – Lancelot [c. 1180]. Penguin Books, 1991: pp. 267-294.

Friday, March 10 – The Kiss in Manuscripts

Anonymous, Prose Lancelot [c. 1225]. trans. Corin Corley.  Oxford University Press, 1989:  286-331.E-Reserves

Stones, Alison. "Illustrating Lancelot and Guinevere," in Lancelot and Guinevere: a Casebook. ed. Lori J. Walters. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996: 125-157. E-Reserves

Week 7: Yvain

Monday, March 13 – Engagement

Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight and the Lion - Yvain [c. 1180]. Penguin Books, 1991: pp. 295-328.

Wednesday, March 15 – Embroilment

Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight and the Lion - Yvain [c. 1180]. Penguin Books, 1991: pp. 329-367.

Friday, March 17 – Yvain and an Embroidery

Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight and the Lion - Yvain [c. 1180]. Penguin Books, 1991: pp. 367-380.

Krueger, Roberta L.  "Love, Honor, and the Exchange of Women in Yvain: Some Remarks on the Female Reader," in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. ed. Thelma S. Fenster. Garland Publishing, 1996: 3-18. E-Reserves

Week 8: Tristan and Isolde

Monday, March 20 - Adventure

Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan [c. 1210]. Penguin Books, 1967: Prologue – ch. 11, 40-158.

Wednesday, March 22 - Betrayal

Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan [c. 1210]. Penguin Books, 1967: ch. 12-20, pp. 159-228.

Friday, March 24 – Tristan and Isolde in Manuscripts

Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan [c. 1210]. Penguin Books, 1967: ch. 21-29, pp. 229-284.

van d'Elden, Stephanie Cain., "Discursive illustrations in three Tristan manuscripts," in Word and image in Arthurian literature. ed. Keith Busby.  New York: Garland, 1996. E-Reserves

SPRING BREAK

Week 9: Gawain

Monday, April 3 – Challenge

Anynomous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [c. 1400]. Penguin Books, 1974: Fit I-II, pp. 21-63.

Wednesday, April 5 – Structure and Resolution

Anynomous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [c. 1400]. Penguin Books, 1974: Fit III-IV, pp. 64-115.

Friday, April 7 – TEST 2

Week 10: Romance of the Rose, Guillaume de Lorris

Monday, April 10 – Rose, 1, The Dream and Idleness

Guillaume de Lorris.  Romance of the Rose. [c. 1230] Princeton University Press, 1995: pp. 31-40, l. 690.

Wednesday, April 12 – Rose, 1, The Allegories

Guillaume de Lorris.  Romance of the Rose. [ c. 1230] Princeton University Press, 1995: pp. 40-50, l. 1424

Nichols, Stephen J.  "Ekphrasis, Iconoclasm, and Desire," in Rethinking the Roman de la Rose; Text, Image, Reception.  Ed. Kevin Brownlee and Sylvia Huot.  Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992: 133-66. E-Reserves

Friday, April 14 – Rose 1, Narcissus and the Fountain

Guillaume de Lorris.  Romance of the Rose. [c. 1230] Princeton University Press, 1995: pp. 40-50, l. 1424

Hult, David F.  "The Allegorical Fountain: Narcissus in the Roman de la Rose,Ó Romanic Review 72 (1981): 125-48. E-Reserves

Week 11: Romance of the Rose, Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun

Monday, April 17 – Rose, 2

Guillaume de Lorris.  Romance of the Rose. [c. 1230] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapter 2.

Wednesday, April 19 – Rose, 3

Guillaume de Lorris.  Romance of the Rose. [c. 1230] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapter 3.

Vitz, Evelyn Birge.  "Inside/Outside: First-Person Narrative in Guillaume de Lorris' Roman de la Rose,"Yale French Studies 58 (1979): 148-64. JSTOR folder

Friday, April 21 – Rose, 4

Jean de Meun.  Romance of the Rose [c. 1275] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapter 4.

Week 12: Romance of the Rose, Jean de Meun

Monday, April 24 – Rose, 5-6

Jean de Meun.  Romance of the Rose [c. 1275] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapters 5-6.

Wednesday, April 26 – Rose, 7

Jean de Meun.  Romance of the Rose [c. 1275] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapter 7.

Brownlee, Kevin. "Reflections in the Miroer aus Amoreus: the inscribed reader in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose," in Mimesis: from Mirror to Method, from Augustine to Descartes.  eds. John D.Lyons and Stephen G. Nichols. Hanover, Published for Dartmouth College by the University Press of New England, 1982: 60-70. E-Reserves

Friday, April 28 – Rose, 8

Jean de Meun.  Romance of the Rose [c. 1275] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapter 8.

Week 13: Romance of the Rose, the end

Monday, May 1 – Rose, 9-10

Jean de Meun.  Romance of the Rose [c. 1275] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapters 9-10.

Wednesday, May 3 – Rose, 11

Jean de Meun.  Romance of the Rose [c. 1275] Princeton University Press, 1995: chapter 11.

Brownlee, Kevin.  "Pygmalion, Mimesis, and the Multiple Endings of the Roman de la Rose," Yale French Studies 95 (1999): 193-211. JSTOR folder

 Friday, May 5 – WORKDAY

Week 14: Student Presentations

Monday, May 8 – Student Presentations

Presentations 1-6

Wednesday, May 10 – Student Presentations

Presentation 7-12

Time to be arranged – Student Presentation

Presentation 13-16

Exam Week: Last Endeavor

Wednesday, May 17 – 9-11 a.m. – TEST 3