Studies in the British Romance Tradition

Spring 2001

Professor Kenneth J. Tiller
Zehmer 130
Office Hours: MWF 12-1; MW 2-3:30; T 2-3:15; TH 11:00-12:15, and by appointment
Phone: 376-4587 / e-mail: kjt9t@uvawise.edu

Texts
Course Overview
Course Policies and Procedures
Course Schedule
Reserve List
Selected Bibliography

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I. TEXTS

Song of Roland
Chrétien de Troies, Arthurian Romances
Marie de France, Lais
Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Romance of the Rose
Brian Stone, ed. King Arthur’s Death
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale
Sir Thomas Malory: Works
Handouts, provided by instructor

II. Course Overview and Objectives

This course will cover the major Romance traditions of England, discussing the principle Continental influences. We will examine the origin of the term “romance” and trace the development of the genre from the early Middle Ages to the end of the medieval period. In the process, we will consider the impact of other genres—Chanson de Geste, Historical Poetry, and Allegory—on the development of the British Romance. This course aims to challenge your assumptions about the meaning of “romance” as a genre, to heighten your appreciation for medieval romances as works of art, and to provide you with an understanding of the historical, political, intellectual, and cultural contexts that produced them.

III. Course Policies and Procedures
Student grades will be based on three short (3-4 page) essays (15% each), midterm exam (15%), final (20%), periodic quizzes over readings (10% total) and class participation, including one short oral report (10%).

Essays

Although I don’t expect research papers per se, you should familiarize yourself to a degree with the critical material on your chosen subject. Therefore, I will request that you include at least three sources outside your primary text on each paper. I will provide specific guidelines for each paper approximately three weeks before the due date.

Late work

will not be tolerated; work turned in after the due date will be penalized at the rate of one letter grade (ten points) per day late.

The Oral Report

Each student will lead a class discussion on one of the texts from the syllabus. Preparation should focus on 1) important thematic and critical issues relevant to the text itself and 2) your selected text’s relation to the development of the British romance tradition as a whole. This report should support one of your essays. It is important that you include at least two or three critical works—including those on the reserve list—pertaining to your selected text. I will schedule your report during the week in which we cover the material, so try to let me know a week or so ahead of time when you’ve chosen a work.

IV: COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1: Jan 17-19
Wed: Introduction. Fri: Ovid, Amores

Week 2: Jan 22-26
Mon: Song of Roland, verses 1-94; Wed: Roland, 94-186. Fri: Roland, 187-291

Week 3: Jan 29-Feb 2
Mon: Andreas Capellanus; Wed: Chrétien, Lancelot, 185- 215; Fri: Lancelot, 215-248.

Week 4: Feb 5-9
Mon: Chrétien,Lancelot, 248-280; Wed: Yvain, 281-331; Fri: Yvain, 331-373.

Week 5: Feb 12-16
Mon: Chrétien, Peceval, 374-415; Wed: Peceval, 415-455; Fri: Perceval, 455-495; Paper one due

Week 6: Feb 19-23
Mon: Marie de France, Guigemar; Wed: Marie de France, Yonec; Fri: Marie de France, Lanval.

Week 7: Feb 26-March 2
Mon: Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale; Wed: The Kn
Mon:Romance of the Rose, 1-61; Wed: Rose, 62-153; Fri: Rose, 155-224.

Week 8: March 5-9
Mon: Rose, 225-299. Wed: Rose, 300-335. Fri: Midterm Exam
March 12-16: Spring Break

Week 9: March 19-21
Mon: The Knight’s Tale, part 1; Wed, The Knight’s Tale, part 2; Fri: The Knight’s Tale, parts 3-4.

Week 10: March 26-30
Mon: Alliterative Morte Arthure, l 1-1341; Wed: Alliterative Morte Arthure, l 1342-3000;
Fri: Alliterative Morte Arthure, 3001-4349

Week 11: Apr 2-6
Mon: Stanziac Mort D’Arthur, l 1-1191; Wed: Stanziac Mort D’Arthur, 1192-2801;
Fri: Stanziac Mort D’Arthur, 2802-3670.

Week 12: Apr 9-13
Mon: Malory 1-58. Wed: Malory 59-110; Fri: Malory 111-146.

Week 13: Apr 16-20
Mon: Malory 147-174; Wed: Malory, 175-226. Fri: Malory 477-506

Week 14: Apr 23-17
Mon: Malory 513-550. Wed: Malory 551-608. Fri: Malory 609-641.

Week 15: Apr 30-May 4
Mon: Malory 642-670. Wed: Malory 671-699. Fri: Malory 700-726.

Week 16: May 7
Mon: Review; Final Exam: Friday, May 11, 11:00 AM

Reserve List

Archibald, Elizabeth and A.S.G. Edwards, eds. A Companion to Malory. Arthurian Studies 37. Woodbridge: Brewer, 1996.

Brownlee, Kevin and Sylvia Huot , eds. Rethinking The Romance of the Rose. Philadelphia : U of Pennsylvania P, 1992.

Chambers, E. K. English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1945.

Clifford, Paula M. Marie de France, Lais. London : Grant & Cutler, 1982.

Crane, Susan. Insular Romance : Politics, Faith, and Culture in Anglo-Norman and Middle English Literature. Berkeley: U of California P, 1986.

Haidu, Peter. The Subject of Violence: the Song of Roland and the Birth of the State. Bloomington: Indiana U, 1993.

Hieatt, A. Kent. Chaucer, Spenser, Milton: Mythopoeic Continuities and Transformations. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 1975.

Layamon. The Brut. W.R.J. Barron and S.C. Weinberg. Harlow: Longman, 1996.

Lewis, C. S. Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. London, Oxford UP, 1946.

O'Donoghue, Bernard. The Courtly Love Tradition. Manchester : Manchester UP, 1982.

Rose, Mark. Spenser's Art: A Companion to Book One of the Faerie Queene. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1975.

Spearing, A. C. The Gawain-Poet; a Critical Study. Cambridge UP, 1970.

Weisl, Angela Jane. Conquering the Reign of Femeny: Gender andGenre in Chaucer's Romance. Cambridge: Brewer, 1995.

Selected Bibliography

Alpers, Paul J. The Poetry of the Faerie Queene. Columbia : U of Missouri P, 1982.

Archibald, Elizabeth and A.S.G. Edwards, eds. A Companion to Malory. Arthurian Studies 37. Woodbridge: Brewer, 1996.

Atchity, Kenneth John, ed. Eterne in Mutabilitie: the Unity of the Faerie Queene: Essays Published in Memory of Davis Philoon Harding. Hamden: Archon Books, 1972.

Brownlee, Kevin and Sylvia Huot , eds. Rethinking The Romance of the Rose. Philadelphia : U of Pennsylvania P, 1992.

Chambers, E. K. English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1945.

Clifford, Paula M. Marie de France, Lais. London : Grant & Cutler, 1982.

Crane, Susan. Insular Romance : Politics, Faith, and Culture in Anglo-Norman and Middle English Literature. Berkeley: U of California P, 1986.

Demaray, John G. Cosmos and Epic Representation: Dante, Spenser, Milton, and the Transformation of Renaissance Heroic Poetry. Pittsburgh: Duquesne UP, 1991.

Denomy, Alexander Joseph. The Heresy of Courtly Love. Gloucester, Mass: P. Smith, 1965.

Donovan, Mortimer J. The Breton Lay: a Guide to Varieties. Notre Dame:
U of Notre Dame P, 1969.

Duggan, Joseph J. The Song of Roland: Formulaic Style and Poetic Craft. Berkeley : U of California P, 1973.

Ferrante, Joan M, et al, eds. In Pursuit of Perfection: Courtly Love in Medieval Literature. Port Washington,: Kennikat P, 1975.

Field, P. J. C. Romance and Chronicle: A Study of Malory's Prose Style. Bloomington:
Indiana UP, 1971.

Gaunt, Simon. Troubadours and Irony. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989.

Goldberg, Jonathan. Endlesse Worke : Spenser and the Structures of Discourse. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins UP, 1981.

Gross, Kenneth. Spenserian Poetics: Idolatry, Iconoclasm, and Magic. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1985.

Haidu, Peter. The Subject of Violence: the Song of Roland and the Birth of the State. Bloomington: Indiana U, 1993.

Hamilton, A. C. The Structure of Allegory in the Faerie Queene. Oxford, Clarendon P, 1961.

Hankins, John Erskine. Source and Meaning in Spenser's Allegory: A Study of the Faerie Queene. Oxford, Clarendon P, 1971.

Hicks, Edward. Sir Thomas Malory: His Turbulent Career. New York: Octagon Books, 1970.
Hieatt, A. Kent. Chaucer, Spenser, Milton: Mythopoeic Continuities and Transformations. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 1975.

Kellogg, Alfred Latimer. Chaucer, Langland, Arthur: Essays in Middle English Literature. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1972.

Kelly, Douglas. Medieval Imagination: Rhetoric and the Poetry of Courtly Love.
Madison : U of Wisconsin P, 1978.

Layamon. The Brut. W.R.J. Barron and S.C. Weinberg. Harlow: Longman, 1996.

Lewis, C. S. Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. London, Oxford UP, 1946.

Merrill, Robert. Sir Thomas Malory and the Cultural Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. New York: Lang, 1987.

Millican, Charles Bowie. Spenser and the Table Round: A Study in the Contemporaneous Background for Spenser's Use of the Arthurian Legend. New York: Octagon Books, 1967

Newman, F. X., ed. The Meaning of Courtly Love. Albany, State U of New York P, 1969.

Nohrnberg, James. The Analogy of The Faerie Queene. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1976.

O'Connell, Michael. Mirror and Veil: The Historical Dimension of Spenser's Faerie Queene. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1977.

O'Donoghue, Bernard. The Courtly Love Tradition. Manchester : Manchester UP, 1982.

Owen, D. D. R. Arthurian Romance: Seven Essays. New York, Barnes & Noble, 1970.---

. Noble Lovers. New York : New York UP, 1975.

Rose, Mark. Spenser's Art: A Companion to Book One of the Faerie Queene. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1975.

Spearing, A. C. The Gawain-Poet; a Critical Study. Cambridge UP, 1970.

Steadman, John M. Moral Fiction in Milton and Spenser. Columbia : U of Missouri P, 1995.

Tonkin, Humphrey. Spenser's Courteous Pastoral: Book Six of the Faerie Queene. Oxford, Clarendon P, 1972.

Topsfield, L. T. Troubadours and Love. London: Cambridge U P, 1975.

Weisl, Angela Jane. Conquering the Reign of Femeny: Gender and Genre in Chaucer's Romance. Cambridge: Brewer, 1995.

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