Camp, Cynthia
MW 1 :50 PM
Park Hall 0259
Grad students! Please see the update, with updated book list, on the listing for ENGL 4290.
This course on medieval literature will take Marshall McCluhan's classic essay "The Medium is the Message" as the launching point for reading medieval literature, canonical and otherwise, in its original manuscript context. Medieval books predate the printing press: all are handmade (often lovingly and intricately), unique, and highly valuable items. Not only are they gorgeous objects in their own right, but they presume a different relationship between text and reader than do contemporary printed books. We will be working some with online facsimiles of famous medieval manuscripts, but we will primarily be engaging with a set of real-life manuscripts borrowed from the Manuscripts in the Curriculum program. These manuscripts, examples of “everyday” genres of books rather than “fancy” de luxe manuscripts or famous literary ones (looking at you, Beowulf Manuscript), will be the backbone primary material for this class.
The first unit will be a practical introduction to medieval manuscript study. You’ll learn how manuscripts were made, how to handle them, how to read their texts, and how to talk about their decoration. We'll spend time in the Special Collections Library examining medieval books from both UGA and the Manuscripts in the Curriculum collection, and you'll work with single leaves and the borrowed books on your own.
In the second unit we will take a more theoretical approach, thinking about the technological contexts in which texts (defined as broadly as possible) circulate. Pairing contemporary theoretical considerations with medieval-specific approaches to production, layout, and text circulation, we will focus (for now) on the communicative technologies of the Manuscripts in the Curriculum items. Because church service books, Books of Hours, and sermons depend upon elaborate layouts for their use, these are the perfect manuscripts for this project. We will also consider the shift to online, digital facsimiles, and students will compare the affordances of consulting manuscripts in both physical and digital forms.
In the final unit, students will undertake their own independent projects into the borrowed manuscripts. There will be great flexibility in this final unit, so students should walk into the class prepared to (learn how to) tackle a mid-sized advanced research project (with my help, of course).
Graduate students enrolling in this split-level course will do the same Unit 1 as the undergrads; Unit 2 will include more theoretically challenging readings, but otherwise resemble the undergrad work. In Unit 3, graduate students are encouraged to work on a project related to their own area of study and/or that works with other materials in the Special Collections library (of which there are tons for this kind of project!)
Course books:
You are welcomed (encouraged, even) to share copies of these books and/or get used copies, but you do need access the first one in physical form:
Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Cornell University Press. ISBN: 9780801487088
Michelle P. Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. Getty/British Museum. ISBN: 0892362170 [This book’s content is also available online at https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/glossary.asp, and you are required to use either the print or the web copy (or both, of course)]
Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan, eds. Text Technologies: A History. Stanford University Press. ISBN: 9781503600485. (I believe there is an ebook version of this text, and you are welcome to use that. Just be prepared to talk in class about how it's a different experience than using a print textbook.)