Camp, Cynthia
TR 2 :20 PM
Park Hall 0259
Father of English literature, writer of bawdy tales, creator of lifelike pilgrim characters: Geoffrey Chaucer is all this and so much more. This class will introduce you to Middle English literature and its literary conventions through the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, including The Canterbury Tales and selections from his minor poetry. Alongside issues of genre, poetic form, and relationships to earlier writers, we will pay particular attention to Chaucer's creation of fictional narrators, his treatment of female characters, his construction of masculine subjects, and his exploration of ethical impasses that arise in the process of meaning-making through reading. In addition to Chaucer's own work, we may read selections from his influences, contemporaries, and later imitators, all of which illustrate the processes of imitation, adaptation, and transformation characteristic of Middle English literature. Evaluation will include formal essays, informal written responses, and examinations. A rigorous but not draconian attendance policy will be in place.
Required Texts (used copies are wonderful)
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales (Broadview, ed. Boenig and Taylor) Be sure to get the FULL Canterbury Tales (first or second edition is fine, with blue or light blue spines), NOT The Canterbury Tales: A Selection (the abridged version: same editors and same press, but with a brown spine).
Chaucer, Dream Visions and Other Poems (Norton, ed. Lynch)
Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. I'll be teaching out of the sixth edition.
additional material will be made available online.
Recommended Texts
Winthrop Wetherbee, Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, 2nd ed. (Cambridge) [if you think you need extra assistance analyzing and digesting Chaucer, particularly CT, I particularly recommend this student guide. It is available used easily online, or there are several copies in the main library]
**No matter where you acquire your texts, please purchase THESE editions!**