Dr. Brian Gastle Office Hours
Chaucer
CO 417 MW 1:00-2:00;
227-3928 And By Appointment
bgastle@wcu.edu http://www3.wcu.edu/~bgastle/
(ENGL 621)
PURPOSE
The purpose of this class is as follows
Introduce you to Middle English. No prior reading ability in Middle English is necessary. We'll start with the
basics and go as slow (or as fast) as the class needs dictate.
Survey Chaucer‟s writing and its historical context. We can't do it all, but I've tried to pick material relevant to
your graduate education, significant for the context of contemporary disciplinary discourse, and fun. Yes, that's
what I said: fun. I know that's probably not what you think about when you think about
medieval literature, but be prepared; I‟m hopelessly irreverent.
Prepare you for your exams. That's not the same thing as knowing the literature. One
thing you should know by now is that examinations don't really test knowledge (at least
the good ones don't); they test skills and application of your knowledge.
Welcome you to the profession. This is a graduate class. You are all working towards
becoming "Masters" of English language and literature. I take that seriously. We will be
spending some time in the class discussing what that means and how it relates to the
study of Chaucer and medieval literature.
TEXTS
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Third Edition. Boston: Houghton, 1987.
Beidler, Peter G. Ed. The Wife of Bath: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. New York, NY: Bedford, 1996)
Reserve Reading List
Dinshaw, Carolyn. “Eunuch Hermeneutics.” Chaucer’s Sexual Poetics. Madison, WI: U Wisconsin P, 1989. 156-186.
Donaldson, E. Talbot. “Chaucer the Pilgrim” PMLA 69 (1954): 928-36.
Hansen, Elaine Tuttle. “‟Women-as-the-Same‟ in the A-Fragment.” Chaucer and the Fictions of Gender. Berkeley CA:
U California P, 1992. 208-44.
Howard, Donald. “Chaucer the Man.” PMLA 80 (1965): 337-43.
Strohm, Paul. “Treason in the Household.” Hochon’s Arrow. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992. 121-44.
---. “Chaucer‟s Troilus as Temporal Archive.” Theory and the Premodern Text. Minneapolis, MN: U Minnesota P, 2000.
ASSIGNMENTS
(tentative)
20% One Short (7-10 page) Essay 15% One “Pedagogy/Teaching” Presentation
30% One Medium Length (10-20 page) Essay 15% One “Historical Context” Presentation
10% Three one-to-two-page response papers 10% One “Midterm” Exam
Historical Context Presentation Topics
The Black Death (1348) (Any) John Wycliffe and the Lollards (Week 9 or any other)
The Statute of Laborers (1351) (Week 5 or any other) John of Gaunt (week 2)
The Peasant's Revolt (1381) (Week 3 or any other) Guilds in the 14th Century (Week 8)
The Reign/Deposition (1399) of Richard II (Week 7) Women's Lives in the 14th Century (Week 6)
The Hundred Year's War (137-1453) (Week 4) Manuscript Production (Week 15)
Homosexuality in the Middle Ages (Week 11)
Your presentation should include
1. A discussion of how your topic relates to Chaucer in general and to what we are reading that week
specifically (do not merely read from a handout -- teach and discuss)
2. A handout for your class members with relevant details (reflecting #1) and an annotated bibliography of
useful print and electronic sources.
3. A PC disk w/ all of the above materials (and any others you deem appropriate) in Word, WordPerfect, or
HTML format so I can easily post your material to the class web page.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Week 1 1/9 First Day of Class: Introduction to Chaucer and Middle English
Read: “Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse”; “Chaucer‟s Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn”
Week 2 – 1/15 & 1/17 Chaucer‟s Life & Chaucer‟s Language
A Dream of Things to Come: Visio vs. Vita
Read: Introductory material (xv-xlv); “The Book of the Duchess” (329-346)
Week 3 – 1/22 & 1/24 Medieval Estates Satire
Read: General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales (23-36)
Donaldson “Chaucer the Pilgrim”; Howard “Chaucer the Man”
Week 4 – 1/29 & 1/31 “What‟s Love Got To Do With It”: Medieval Romance (Gender and Genre I)
Read: The Knight‟s Tale (37-65)
Due: First Response Paper (By This Date)
Week 5 – 2/5 & 2/7 “Payback‟s a Bitch”: The Fabulous Fabliau (Gender and Genre II)
Read: The Miller; Reve; Cook (66-86); Hansen “‟Women-as-the-Same‟ in the A-Fragment.”
Week 6 – 2/12 & 2/14 Breaking the Stained Glass Ceiling
Read: The Wife of Bath; “Feminist Criticism and the WoB” in the Beidler ed. (including Hansen‟s
“„Of his Love Dangerous to me‟: Liberation, Subversion, and Domestic Violence in the Wife
of Bath‟s Prologue and Tale
Week 7 – 2/19 & 2/21 Chaucer‟s Textual Environment
Read: The Wife of Bath
“New Historicist Criticism in the WoB” in the Beidler edition (including Patterson‟s
“„Experience woot well it is noght so‟: Marriage and the Pursuit of Happiness in the WoB‟s
Prologue and Tale”); Strohm “Treason in the Household”
Due: Second Response Paper (By This Date)
Week 8 – 2/26 & 2/28 Encomium and Economy in the Marriage Group
Read: Merchant, Franklin, Shipman (153-168, 178-189, 203-209)
“Marxist Criticism in the Wife of Bath” in the Beidler edition (including Finke‟s “‟All is for
to Selle‟: Breeding Capital in the Wife of Bath‟s Prologue and Tale”
Week 9 – 3/5 & 3/7 Chaucer and the Sacred
Read: Friar, Summoner, Monk, Nun‟s Priest (122-136, 240-261)
Due: Short Essay
Week 10 – 3/12 & 3/14 Spring Break – No Class
Week 11 – 3/19 & 3/21 Gender Trouble
Read: Pardoner, Parson‟s Prologue and first few pages of his tale (193-202, 287-296)
Dinshaw‟s “Eunuch Hermeneutics”
Week 12 3/26 – Exam
3/28 – Easter Break – No Class
Week 13 – 4/2 & 4/4 Chaucer Ancient and Modern
Read: T&C Books I & II (473 – 513)
Week 14 – 4/9 & 4/11 Consuming the Consummation
Read: T&C III – IV (513 – 560)
Due: Third Response Paper (By This Date)
Week 15 – 4/16 & 4/18 Tragic History
Read: T&C Book V (560 – 585); Strohm‟s “Chaucer‟s Troilus as Temporal Archive”
Week 16 – 4/23 & 4/25 What do we do with “the Minor Poems”?
Read: Short Poems (to be announced)
Due: Medium-Length Paper
Week 17 – 4/30 & 5/2 5/2 Kalamazoo Conference – No Class)