ENG 410: The Idea of the Vernacular, Spring 2004

Louise M. Bishop, voicemail 346-0733, 308 Chapman Hall
Office hours Please note that these office hours are shared with the Clark Honors College undergraduates; you may take your chances, or you may reserve office hour time via sign-up sheets on my office door (sign-up sheets list hours for the entire term); make an appointment if these hours don't work.

Class hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00 pm to 3:20 pm in 125 Mackenzie

Tamara Holloway's e-mail: thollowa@gladstone; Alastair Hunt's e-mail: ahunt2@darkwing

In 1999, a ground-breaking anthology of Middle English texts and criticism appeared from Penn State Press. The Idea of the Vernacular, edited by four prominent scholars including Nicholas Watson, shows the self-conscious attitudes of many Middle English named and anonymous authors towards their language and literature. Examples include works from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries and touch on devotion, politics, medicine, history (English, Scots, Roman, Trojan), and drama, among other topics. The editors include five essays to ground their assertions about Middle English vernacularity. Our task is to familiarize ourselves with the issues the editors raise, read primary Middle English texts, and situate our reading within the issues of vernacularity.

Requirements | Sign-up list for words and topics | Guidelines for annotations | Guidelines for presentation | Weekly reading assignments | Topics/presentation lists | Web resources | Group presentation evaluation | Paper format

---

Requirements

1. A brief exercise in Middle English language

• You'll choose one word from a list,
• look it up in the Middle English Compendium (available on-line: type in "Middle English Compendium" as a title on library home page and click; click on the Website; then click on "Middle English Dictionary"; then click on "look up" to get a field for entering your query)
• and write a brief paper (approximately 500 words) on the word's subtleties and their effect on your reading of a passage of Middle English (passages provided from Idea of the Vernacular: familiarize yourself with the quoted text via the text's and the section's headnotes, as well as reading around your quotation (or reading the entire text, if possible--check headnotes for editions)). Due Tuesday, April 6. See Web sign-up sheet for words and line references.

2. Topic presentations and annotated bibliography. You'll sign up and form a group with other class members to provide a 20-40 minute class presentation on one of seven topics, arranged in a weekly list. Each topic begins with a particular selection from our anthology; the anthology also provides preliminary bibliography. The idea is to investigate a context for your text and see how that context helps to elucidate the text. Besides the group presentation, each group member will write up a one-page annotation for one critical article/chapter (due the day of the presentation), drawn from the "bibliography" section of the selection. Guidelines for your annotation (with thanks to Prof. Lisa Freinkel): Your annotation should be 200-250 words and should cite the article or book chapter using proper MLA documentation style. Generally you should

• Do more than summarize the article. Your goal here is to explicate the author's thesis as concisely and clearly as possible. Details of the argument should only be mentioned when they seem necessary for understanding the author's thesis. A good annotation will give a sense of "what's at stake" with the argument. Why is s/he writing this essay? To what critical trend or presumption is s/he responding?
• Avoid quoting the article. Occasionally a brief quote will be helpful to convey the author's position or his/her tone, but be careful! You want to explicate, not to re-cite. Be especially careful to paraphrase rather than quote directly if your author is using jargon, specialized or highly theoretical terms.
• Avoid editorializing. Be as neutral as possible. Your goal is not to critique but to explicate. You are presenting an argument - not demonstrating its weakness.

Guidelines for presentation At the beginning of Thursday class meetings we'll have a 20-30 minute presentation from that week's group on the topic scheduled for that day. You can also be the "expert" on your topic for class discussion during the term. Your group presentation should explain (a) the topic/text researched, (b) discoveries, and (d) the relevance of your topic/text for our class's attention to "vernacularity." Be organized. Do not summarize in detail the essays you've read; instead, make copies of your annotations for the class. Your presentation's goal is to help us understand some of the ramifications/implications of your topic relative to "the idea of the vernacular." Your topic needn't necessarily be the topic for your term paper. On the other hand, your immersion in the subject could aid you in devising a topic for and writing your term paper. Back to top of page, back to top of "Requirements"

3. A midterm paper (1000-1500 words). Due May 4 (no exceptions). Your midterm paper may treat an issue you or the class debated in terms of one of our readings, either a class reading or a group reading. Be sure to use proper citation form.

4. A term paper (2000-3000 words, exclusive of footnotes and bibliography). Due May 31.

5. Periodic surprise quizzes to make sure you're keeping up with the reading.

Grading

The Middle English language exercise constitutes 10% of your grade; the presentation, 15%; the annotated bibliography, 15%; the midterm paper, 20%; the term paper, 30%; the quizzes, cumulatively, 10%. N.B.: there is no final exam in the class. Please note the University's "grade point value" system effective 9/90, as I will be using this system to grade your work (unless otherwise noted):

A+ = 4.3	B+ = 3.3	C+ = 2.3	D+ = 1.3
A = 4.0	B = 3.0	C = 2.0	D = 1.0
A- = 3.7	B- = 2.7	C- = 1.7	D- = 0.7

Note that a grade of "C" is, according to academic regulations, "satisfactory," while a "B" is "good." That means that a "B" is better than average, better than satisfactory, better than adequate. The average grade, then, is a "C"; a grade of "B" requires effort and accomplishment.

March 30 Introduction: What is "vernacular"?	April 1 Guest lecture, Prof. J.L. Boren, on Middle English dialects and their importance
April 6 DUE: A brief exercise in Middle English language Middle English and devotion: "A Talking of the Love of God," pp. 222-4	April 8 Julian of Norwich, "A Revelation of Divine Love: Explicit," pp. 233-35
April 13 John Trevisa, "Dialogue Between the Lord and the Clerk," pp. 130-8, and Introduction to Part Two, pp. 109-25, esp. 109-16: be ready to define different sorts of audiences	April 15 The Bible Essay 4.1: The Notion of Vernacular Theory
April 20 "Dives and Pauper," pp. 249-52, and Introduction to Part Three, pp. 211-22: think about the way the editors figure the relationship between feeling and reading.	April 22 Lollardy Essay 4.2: The Politics of Middle English Writing
April 27 Politics: George Ashby, "Active Policy of a Prince: Prologue," pp. 56-61, and Introduction to Part One, pp. 3-15: be prepared to answer the question, "What is an author?"	April 29 Mysticism "The Prick of Conscience: Prologue," pp. 241-44 (Review intro to part three)
May 4 Midterm paper due "Sermon of Dead Men: Peroration," pp. 255-258 and review intro to part three: what is the relationship between ethics and reading?	May 6--NO CLASS--
May 11 John Walton, "Translation of Boethius," pp. 34-38, and review intro to part one: what is Walton's relationship to Boethius? To Chaucer?	May 13 Reading Essay 4.3: Authors, Scribes, Patrons and Books
May 18 Guy de Chauliac, "Cyrurgie: Prologue," pp. 61-64: think about its relationship to "high" and "low" culture	May 20 Genre Essay 4.4: Historicizing Postcolonial Criticism
May 25 "Spektakle of Luf," pp. 205-208: review introduction to part two and think about the audience for this work	May 27 Gender
June 1 DUE: term paper "The Nightingale," pp. 186-90: how does the nightingale's characterization fit with ideas about poetry? how are books like birds?	June 3Caxton and early printing

April 15 The Bible Read excerpt 1.15, The General Prologue to the Wycliffite Bible, and also the introduction to Part One, especially "Textual Instability, Memory, and Vernacular Variance" (10-12). Back to schedule

April 22 Lollardy Read excerpt 2.4, On Translating the Bible into English, as well as the introduction to Part Two; see also Essay 4.2, pp 339-45.

April 29 Mysticism Read excerpt 3.20, The Book of Ghostly Grace, along with bibliography in that section. Marion Glasscoe is an expert on English mystics; search his work via the International Medieval Bibliography (enter via UO library website: put in as title, click on Website--see also librarian Heather Ward's instructions for using the IMB).

May 13 Reading Read excerpt 3.10, The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ: Prologue, and also essay 4.3, esp. "Book Distribution and Social Control," pp 359-62. Back to schedule

May 20 Genre Read excerpt 1.2, The Bruce, and also Paul Strohm, "Storie, Spelle, Geste, Romaunce, Tragedie: Generic Distinctions in the Middle English Troy Narratives," Speculum 46,2 (April 1971): 348-359 (available through the JSTOR electronic service--check with a librarian) Back to schedule

May 27 Gender Read excerpt 2.6, "The Knowing of Woman's Kind in Childing," and also consult the entire text with introduction by Alexandra Barrett, RG93 .K58 2001

June 2 Caxton and early printing Read excerpt 2.16, William Caxton's translation of Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry, Book of the Knight of the Tower: Prologue, and N.F. Blake's Caxton: England's First Publisher (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1976). Back to schedule

The Orb, at Rhodes | The Labyrinth | Studies in the Age of Chaucer on-line bibliography for articles on Chaucer

General resources

• Cambridge History of English Literature. Ed. David Wallace. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. PR255 .C35 1999
• Aers, David. Community,Gender, and Individual Identity: English Writing, 1360-1430. London: Routledge, 1988. PR275.I34 A35 1988
• Beckwith, Sarah. Christ's Body: Identity, Culture, and Society in Late Medieval Writings. London: Routledge, 1993.
• Bynum, Caroline. Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New York: Zone Books, 1992. BT741.2 .B95 1992
• Carruthers, Mary. The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. BF371 .C325 1990