HC 421H, Honors College colloquium Inventing the Middle Ages
Bishop, Winter '07| 308 Chapman | (541) 346-0733 | lmbishop@uoregon.edu
Office hours: Wednesday, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and by appointment. Sign-up
sheet on office door. See the Princeton writing lab here.
Class hours: Monday, 6:00 pm to 8:50 pm
| Requirements | Texts | Grading | Reading schedule | Paper format instructions | Research topic suggestions | Chapter expertise list | Presentation evaluation form | Presentation schedule
What is the "Middle Ages"? Who first named it, and why? How has "medieval" been interpreted, re-interpreted, and even recreated from the Renaissance to the 21st century? What are the resonances of the term "medieval" today? We will anchor our investigation with Norman Cantor's controversial 1993 book, Inventing the Middle Ages: The Lives, Works, and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth Century and Carolyn Dinshaw's Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern. We will read primary medieval/medievalism texts as well as secondary literature that traces the conscious creation of a medieval "other." We will consider "medieval" as amorphous, as Romantic, as "folk," as marketing tool. We will think about the odd admixture of scorn and delight that the term "medieval" conjures for modern audiences and about the term's cultural specificity (or in-specificity). Time and schedules permitting, we will visit the Benedictine monastery in Mount Angel, Oregon and also try our hand at some variety of medieval recreation. Class presentation and term paper required. See below for requirements.
Texts: Norman Cantor, Inventing the Middle
Ages, Carolyn Dinshaw, Getting Medieval, Horace Walpole, The Castle
of Otronto
Other readings will be provided on Blackboard or handed out in class. We'll
be looking at Chaucer, Petrarch, Shakespeare, Walpole, Keats, Tennyson
1. Word paper. In order to familiarize yourself with the concepts the class will deal with, we'll divide into five groups who will check out the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary (available online) and any other available sources for medieval, Middle Age(s), gothic, humanism, or modern. Each group will present their "word" on Monday, January 22, and each student will write a short (500 words) paper of reflections on their word. List all sources, including web resources. You'll also speculate about the kinds of issues your word will bring up in class. Completing this assignment on time and with some acuity counts 10 % towards your final grade.
2. Chapter expertise. You'll work in pairs to lead discussion of particular class readings, such as a chapter of Inventing the Middle Ages. 5% of your final grade. (Back to top of page)
3. Weekly reading log -- one page (minimum) paper due at the beginning of each class, handed in at the end of each class. Cantor's book will give us a sense of medieval studies in the twentieth century. His thesis is that the circumstances of each scholar he profiles affected that scholar's take on the Middle Ages. Cantor thus implies one of the main themes of the course: that the Middle Ages has provided a screen onto which scholars, and others, project their desires for an authentic Middle Ages, or a Middle Ages that leads to the modern age, or a Middle Ages that critics the modern age. Each of our critical readings, including Dinshaw, will treat the concept of the medieval as "other," and negotiate the challenges of desire for authenticity and self-critique. In your reading log, you will reflect on our readings, and on a weekly basis produce questions from the reading. Some suggestions for questions include how the reading conceives of "medieval" (if it does so at all), whether it brings up more questions than it answers, and how it relates to other readings. You might use the word you analyzed in your "word paper" to organize your responses. I will read these papers, comment on them, and grade them pass/no pass. Normally, a no-pass paper shows a lack of analysis and engagement with the reading or contains egregious writing errors. Seven or eight passing papers will count as a 4.0, five to six as a 3.0, three to four as a 2.0, and two as a 1.0. 20% of your final grade.
3 . Thesis question and annotated bibliography due February 12. See this page for a guide for writing an annotated bibliography. You'll investigate a text or topic outlined in our first reading but not treated in a class reading and write your term paper on that text or topic. By week SIX of the term, you'll have decided on your topic and will produce a thesis question and bibliography. You do not have to have a unique topic -- a number of you could work on Gaston Paris, for instance and share resource -- but each student must write an individual term paper. Be advised that the Honors College has a library specialist at the Knight Library to help you with your research: Elizabeth Peterson, <emp@uoregon.edu> and telephone 346-3047. 15% of your final grade.
4 . Class presentation. Beginning on February 12 we'll spend part of our class meetings until the end of the term with your presentations on your research topic. These presentations can be individual or group, but their main purposes are (1) to help you articulate your research thesis and (2) to provide others in the class with more information about medievalism and its invention. You'll each fill out a presentation evaluation form for your classmates' presentations: you can find the form here. 15% of your final grade.
5. Term project due Monday, March 12. While I'm quite happy for you to write a standard term paper (approximately 2500-3000 words), and a good portion of the work must be written, you may include other types of research, such as images or music, as your "text" and to make your points. And, as mentioned above, you can certainly collaborate, but each class member must write an individual term paper. 25% of your final grade. (Back to top of page)
The word paper constitutes 10% of your grade; chapter expertise, 5 %; the summary papers collectively, 20%, the thesis question and bibliography, 15%; class presentation, 15%; participation, 10%; and the term paper, 25% of your grade. Please note the University's "grade point value" system effective 9/90, as I will be using this system (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.
Check Blackboard for updates and documents; readings are due on the day they're listed
Week 1 January 8
Week 2 no class: MLK Day
Week 3 January 22 The wide-open spaces of medievalism
Week 4 January 29 Shakespeare defines the medieval
Week 5 February 5 Eighteenth-century medievalism
Week 6 February 12 Thesis question and bibliography due
Week 7 February 19 Medieval romanticism
Week 8 February 26 Victorian medievalism
Week 9 March 5 the pre-Raphaelites
Week 10 March 12 Term paper due
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