English 491: Winter 2007
English 491: Masculinity and Its Discontents:
Maleness in the Middle Ages
Dr. Kate Koppelman
Winter 2007
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-12:05
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2-5 and by appointment (430 Casey)
“I do not wish to arouse conviction. I wish to stimulate thought and to upset prejudices.”
--Sigmund Frued, quoted in Jeffrey Weeks, Sexuality and Its Discontents
This course wishes, also, to stimulate thought and, perhaps, upset prejudices about the meaning, value, and place of the category of masculinity in the medieval world. Was there such a category and, if so, what was its relationship to real bodies, to social bodies, and to bodies of texts? Where do the masculine and the feminine intersect (please, restrain nervous giggles) in terms of power, identity, history, or aesthetics? We will read texts that outline expectations of maleness, those that address the dangers of that category, and texts that challenge the unity or reliability of thinking oneself a “man” or a “woman” in the middle ages.
This course is an upper-division seminar—what this means is that you are responsible for the direction and liveliness of our discussions. I am here as a mediator and a guide, certainly, but I also consider myself a participant in a conversation the direction of which I cannot (and should not) fully predict. With this in mind, I have organized some categories and readings that will get us started and moving throughout the semester. However, because I hope to find our discussions moving in all sorts of new and exciting directions, I reserve the right to add secondary readings to our syllabus as it seems appropriate or relevant—you should do the same. In other words, should you find what you consider a useful essay about any of the texts or topics we are discussing, let me know about it and we will add it to our list of texts under discussion.
Many (if not most) of the texts we will read come from a period in history that is likely not familiar to many of you and which, as we will see, has certain elements in common with our own but which also differs in significant ways. Because we will be discussing a category to which we all have intimate connections—gender—the temptation may exist to simply impose our “modern” ideas about masculinity and femininity (about maleness and femaleness) upon these medieval texts. This would be a grave mistake. One of the things we will do in this course is try to construct the beginning of what I will call a signifying history of gender—this requires an openness to the proclamations and confusions of the texts at hand. While it is certainly appropriate to compare the attitudes of the texts we are reading to those we might currently hold, we should not and cannot speak from a position of achieved progress or of knowing superiority.
Required Texts:
**A note on purchasing these texts: The bookstore may or may not have all these texts in stock—should you prefer, you may want to purchase texts online or from other vendors. If you do this, please be sure that the edition you purchase is the correct one.**
Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Norton Critical Edition, ISBN: 0393927555
Romance of the Rose, trans. Horgan, ISBN: 0192839489
Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love, ISBN: 0231073054
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, ISBN: 0415924995
John of Salisbury, Policraticus, ed. Nederman, ISBN: 0521367018
Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex, ISBN: 0674543556
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, ISBN: 0679724699
Karra, Ruth Mazo, From Boys to Men: Formations of Masculinity in Late Medieval
Europe, ISBN: 0812218345
Other required reading will be posted on Angel or printed in the course reader—please be sure you have the necessary skills, time, and equipment to print the required readings from Angel.
Grading Breakdown:
Participation: 30% (Fish Bowl: 15%, other participation: 15%)
Close reading exercise: 10%
Prospectus: 10%
Annotated Bibliography: 10%
First Draft: 10%
Final Paper: 30%
Course Requirements:
Participation:
This class stalls and becomes painful and dreadful if you do not participate in it. Participation means: reading the assigned texts carefully and thoroughly; speaking in response to direct questions in class; raising questions and comments about the texts independent of direct questioning; engaging with the topic and texts in ways that not only enlarge your knowledge of the subject, but also enhance your understanding of what it means to be an active subject in the world (in the past, in the present, and in the future). Please note that participation is worth 30 percent of your final grade. If I do not hear your voice in class, it will be mathematically impossible for you to get a grade higher than a “C” in this course.
Fish Bowl: In order to encourage active participation, we will have designated Fish Bowl days throughout the quarter. Fish Bowl works like this: on a designated Fish Bowl day you will be required to bring to class 2-3 questions about the text at hand. These questions should be typed and will be collected at the end of class. Before class begins, each student will write his or her name on a piece of paper and place that piece of paper into the class Fish Bowl. I will then draw 3-4 names out of the bowl—those students will make up the expert panel for that day and will answer questions posed to them by the rest of the class (or by me, if discussion wanes). Your grade for Fish Bowl will be based upon the quality and thoughtfulness of the questions you come up with (NOT your answers, should you be one of the experts).
An additional note about speaking: Please remember that I am here as a reader, not as an expert. One of the reasons I wanted to teach this course was that I felt I wanted to know more about categories of masculinity in the middle ages. Thus, I consider myself your colleague in this endeavor—there are no stupid questions, comments, or observations (besides those that indicate a lack of preparation in terms of reading). This MUST be a place of fair and comfortable exchange for the course to work.
Writing:
There is a single, final paper for the course. You should begin thinking about a possible final paper topic as soon as you can—and feel free to talk to me about it whenever that idea begins to crystallize. You will turn in and be graded on a close reading exercise (2 pages), prospectus (3 pages), an annotated bibliography (3-4 sources), a first draft (5-7 pages), and a final paper (10-15 pages). Should you want to begin working on any of these writing assignments earlier than indicated on the calendar, please let me know—I would be happy to provide you with comments and suggestions for revision.
CALENDAR
(not unlike male and female bodies, this is very much subject to change)
Tuesday
Thursday
January 4:
Introduction to the course: Galen; Theory of the Humours; Ovid, “Tireseas,” “Salmacis and Hermaphroditus”
January 9:
Definitions and Expectations:
Selections from Blamires (Reader): Ovid; Scripture; Aristotle; Galen; Isidore of Seville; Aquinas; Guido Delle Colonne; Augustine
Laqueur, Chapters 1 and 2
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Parts I, II, III
Karras, Chaper 1
January 11:
The Knight:
Selections from Miller (Reader):
Geoffroi de Charny; Ramon Lull; Honore Bonet
Middle English Romances (Reader): Sir Orfeo
Karras, Chapter 2
Fish Bowl
January 16:
The Knight:
Troilus and Criseyde, Book 1
[If possible, please review Sir Gawain and the Green Knight—in Norton Anthology]
Secondary reading TBA (to be posted on Angel)
January 18:
The Knight:
Troilus and Criseyde, Books i, II
Butler, Gender Trouble
Close Reading Assigned
January 23:
The Knight:
Troilus and Criseyde, Books III, IV
Henryson, “The Testament of Criseyde”
Secondary reading TBA
January 25:
The Knight:
Finish Troilus and Criseyde
Fish Bowl
Close Reading Due
January 30:
The Sovereign:
John of Salisbury, Policraticus
Havelock (Reader)
Chaucer, “Tale of Melibee” (Reader)
February 1:
The Sovereign:
Chaucer, “The Knight’s Tale” (Reader)
Secondary reading TBA
Prospectus Assigned
February 6:
View, Excalibur
Prospectus Due
February 8:
The Lover:
Selections from Courtly Love Lyrics (and review Sir Gawain) (Angel)
Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love
Marie de France, Guigemar, Lanval (Reader)
Fish Bowl
February 13:
The Lover:
Romance of the Rose (Part One)
February 15:
The Lover:
Romance of the Rose (Part Two—chapters 4, 5, 6, 9)
First Draft Assigned/Annotated Bibliography Assigned
February 20:
Human and Divine:
Mankind (Reader)
Chaucer, “The Book of the Duchess” (Reader)
Fish Bowl
February 22:
Human and Divine:
Saint Augustine, Confessions (selections)
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (selections--Reader)
Karras, Chapter 5
First Draft Due/Annotated Bibliography Due
February 27:
Human and Divine:
The (Wakefield) Crucifixion (Reader)
The Resurrection, Harrowing of Hell, and the Last Judgment (Reader)
Silence
Fish Bowl (tentative)
March 1:
Silence
Catch up day
March 6:
View, The Crying Game
March 8:
Workshop on Drafts
Final Paper Due: Tuesday, March 13th, by noon
Syllabus
