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Jean Gerson and the Debate on the Romance of the Rose
JEAN GERSON AND THE DEBATE ON THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski What was at stake in the debate on the Romance of the Rose? Why would a learned authoress, a famous theologian and a group of intel- lectual clerics spend untold hours either attacking or defending a work written in French that was at that point over a hundred years old? For the debaters nothing less was at stake than the function and power of literature in their society. Does vernacular literature have a moral responsibility toward its audience? This was one of the fundamental questions addressed by all the participants in the debate. Yet their opinions on the book’s value differed enormously. By its adversaries the Rose was seen as inciting husbands to domes- tic violence; as leading to bad morals and from there to heresy; as a book that destroys the very fabric of medieval society and should therefore be burned. By its supporters it was praised as a marvelous compendium teaching good morals and overflowing with the learn- ing of an almost divine theologian named Jean de Meun. Who was right, the rhodophiles or the rhodophobes?1 The Romance of the Rose was one of the most popular texts of the Middle Ages. Over two hundred manuscripts (many of them beau- tifully illuminated) and printed editions survive from the period between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Rose was also an infinitely rich work, open to almost as many interpretations as there were readers.2 Composed by two different authors, Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, the two quite distinct parts of the romance date from c. -
Chaucer and Bawdy
Chaucer and Bawdy G. R. Simes RANCE. Had you committed the act you wouldn't now be facing the charge. PRENTICE. I couldn't commit the act. I'm a heterosexual. RANCE. I wish you wouldn't use these Chaucerian words. It's most confusing. Joe Onon, What the Butler Saw (1969), p. 55. The reputation of a medieval poet is such that a successful dramatist of the 1960s could rely on the mere mention of his name to convey to the audience of the play the ideas of naughtiness and bawdy. Presumably the expansion of senior-secondary and tertiary education after World War II, the gradual relaxation of sexual mores, and the ready availability of a lively translation of the Canterbury Tales had all been factors_ that contributed to a popular dissemination of Chaucer's reputation for bawdiness. If that is so, it occurred in the absence of scholarly activity and interest in the topic. It is true that Chaucer shares with Shakespeare the singular honour of having a book devoted to his bawdy; yet that book was published as recently as 1972 and, modelling itself on Partridge's pioneering work on Shakespeare, takes the form of discursive glosses, apart from a brief, conceptually uncritical introduction. I In general, before the later 1960s, while many medievalists privately took pleasure in Chaucer's treatment of sexual and excretory matters, they did not write upon this aspect of his work with the same unembarrassed candour that the poet himself had shown. Among general readers this aspect of Chaucer, and to an extent Chaucer's very name, was very often an occasion for sniggering. -
French (08/31/21)
Bulletin 2021-22 French (08/31/21) evolved over time by interpreting related forms of cultural French representation and expression in order to develop an informed critical perspective on a matter of current debate. Contact: Tili Boon Cuillé Prerequisite: In-Perspective course. Phone: 314-935-5175 • In-Depth Courses (L34 French 370s-390s) Email: [email protected] These courses build upon the strong foundation students Website: http://rll.wustl.edu have acquired in In-Perspective courses. Students have the opportunity to take the plunge and explore a topic in the Courses professor’s area of expertise, learning to situate the subject Visit online course listings to view semester offerings for in its historical and cultural context and to moderate their L34 French (https://courses.wustl.edu/CourseInfo.aspx? own views with respect to those of other cultural critics. sch=L&dept=L34&crslvl=1:4). Prerequisite: In-Perspective course. Undergraduate French courses include the following categories: L34 French 1011 Essential French I Workshop Application of the curriculum presented in French 101D. Pass/ • Cultural Expression (French 307D) Fail only. Grade dependent on attendance and participation. Limited to 12 students. Students must be enrolled concurrently in This course enables students to reinforce and refine French 101D. their French written and oral expression while exploring Credit 1 unit. EN: H culturally rich contexts and addressing socially relevant questions. Emphasis is placed on concrete and creative L34 French 101D French Level I: Essential French I description and narration. Prerequisite: L34 French 204 or This course immerses students in the French language and equivalent. Francophone culture from around the world, focusing on rapid acquisition of spoken and written French as well as listening Current topic: Les Banlieues. -
1 the Middle Ages
THE MIDDLE AGES 1 1 The Middle Ages Introduction The Middle Ages lasted a thousand years, from the break-up of the Roman Empire in the fifth century to the end of the fifteenth, when there was an awareness that a ‘dark time’ (Rabelais dismissively called it ‘gothic’) separated the present from the classical world. During this medium aevum or ‘Middle Age’, situated between classical antiquity and modern times, the centre of the world moved north as the civil- ization of the Mediterranean joined forces with the vigorous culture of temperate Europe. Rather than an Age, however, it is more appropriate to speak of Ages, for surges of decay and renewal over ten centuries redrew the political, social and cultural map of Europe, by war, marriage and treaty. By the sixth century, Christianity was replacing older gods and the organized fabric of the Roman Empire had been eroded and trading patterns disrupted. Although the Church kept administrative structures and learning alive, barbarian encroachments from the north and Saracen invasions from the south posed a continuing threat. The work of undoing the fragmentation of Rome’s imperial domain was undertaken by Charlemagne (742–814), who created a Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently by his successors over many centuries who, in bursts of military and administrative activity, bought, earned or coerced the loyalty of the rulers of the many duchies and comtés which formed the patchwork of feudal territories that was France. This process of centralization proceeded at variable speeds. After the break-up of Charlemagne’s empire at the end of the tenth century, ‘France’ was a kingdom which occupied the region now known as 2 THE MIDDLE AGES the Île de France. -
05.01.21, Heller-Roazen, Fortune's Faces
05.01.21, Heller-Roazen, Fortune's Faces Main Article Content The Medieval Review baj9928.0501.021 05.01.21 Heller-Roazen, Daniel. Fortune's Faces: The Roman de la Rose and the Poetics of Contingency. Series: Parallax. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Pp. xiii, 206. ISBN: 0-8018-7191-3. Reviewed by: Suzanne Conklin Akbari University of Toronto [email protected] Fortune's Faces is, in some ways, a difficult book to review, because it is not really written by a medievalist. This is in no way a criticism, for Heller-Roazen is in fact a highly skilled comparatist of a kind only rarely seen nowadays: he is comfortable in a range of vernacular and classical languages, and committed to unraveling the tangled relationship of philosophy and poetics rather than simply excavating a dusty corner of medieval culture. Heller- Roazen is probably best known for his intelligent translations of the work of Giorgio Agamben, but he has also written on subjects as diverse as the great library at Alexandria and aphasia in literature. His wide range of expertise, encompassing several languages and humanistic disciplines, truly makes him what used to be called a "Renaissance man," with the added dimension of his engagement with the political as well as the philosophical. It is necessary to have some sense of Heller-Roazen's scholarly perspective in order to assess the very real merits of Fortune's Faces. If the reader is looking for a reading of the Roman de la Rose in the context of the intellectual history of late thirteenth-century Paris, the book will disappoint. -
'The Parliament of Fowls.'. Emil A
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1971 Hierarchical Modes of Love in Chaucer's 'The Parliament of Fowls.'. Emil A. Mucchetti Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Mucchetti, Emil A., "Hierarchical Modes of Love in Chaucer's 'The aP rliament of Fowls.'." (1971). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2154. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/2154 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This dissertation was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. -
The Poet of Love and the Parlement of Foules
Studies in English Volume 2 Article 11 1961 The Poet of Love and the Parlement of Foules Donald C. Baker University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Baker, Donald C. (1961) "The Poet of Love and the Parlement of Foules," Studies in English: Vol. 2 , Article 11. Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol2/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in English by an authorized editor of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Baker: The Poet of Love The Poet of Love and the Parlement of Foules Donald C. Baker Of Chaucer’s four vision poems, the Parlement of Foules is, with out a doubt, the most closely integrated, firm-textured, and, not withstanding its superficial simplicity, the most complex. Lowes has spoken of it, and rightly so, as "seamless.”1 Few critics indeed, though many have regarded it as a precious trifle, have quibbled with its composition, and these have been limited for the most part to those readers who failed to find important connections between the pre liminary reading of the Somnium Scipionis and the rest of the poem.2 Twentieth century scholars and critics have nearly always seen the poem as tightly unified, although in many cases the reasons given for the unity were highly individual. In any case, this trend is once again indicative of the swelling -
Nature and Divine Love in Guillaume De Lorris and Jean De Meun's Le Roman De La Rose
NATURE AND DIVINE LOVE IN LE ROMAN DE LA ROSE NATURE AND DIVINE LOVE IN GUILLAUME DE LORRIS AND JEAN DE MEUN'S LE ROMAN DE LA ROSE By DEBORAH ANGELA VAN VELDHUIZEN, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University © Copyright by Deborah Angela Van Veldhuizen, 1997 MASTER OF ARTS (1997) McMaster University (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Nature and Divine Love in Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun's Le Roman de la Rose AUTHOR: Deborah Angela Van Veldhuizen, B.A. (Carleton University) SUPER VISOR: Professor Anne Savage NUMBER OF PAGES: vi, 86 11 ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between nature and divine love in Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200-1240) and Jean de Meun's (c. 1235-1305) Le Roman de la Rose. My approach contextualizes the allegorical representations of nature and divine love in the religious, historical, and cultural milieu of the poem. The introductory chapter foregrounds the poem in two ways: first, in the theologization of 'nature' by the thirteenth century; second, in terms of a vernacular theology about Christ's Incarnation and Passion being for and about everyone because they redeem the human body and soul. Chapter Two introduces natural and cupidinous love, the framework in which the philosophical discussion of the redemption of the human body and soul occurs. The third chapter compares and contrasts Nature and Genius, the allegorical representations of nature and divine love in the poem. Chapter Four, through an examination of the Park of the Lamb, the garden of Deduit and the hierarchy of 'worlds' presented in the Roman, reveals how it is possible for humankind to live according to God's purpose. -
Peter Abelard's Carmen Ad Astralabium and Medieval Parent-Child Didactic Texts
Juanita Feros Ruys (Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney) Peter Abelard's Carmen ad Astralabium and Medieval Parent-Child Didactic Texts: The Evidence for Parent-Child Relationships in the Middle Ages In his Introduction to this volume, Albrecht Classen relates the story of Konrad von Wiirzburg's Engelhard, and asks whether the parental behaviors displayed in medieval narratives can be taken as indicative of real medieval parental attitudes. This is a key question, since a scarcity of other sources often requires medievalists to press fictional narratives into service in this way, as for example Doris Desclais Berkvam's study of childhood and maternity in the romances and epics of medieval France,1 and Classen's own study of family life in medieval German literary sources indicate.2 A modern reader of the actions that Engelhard undertakes and the arguments he espouses might find them so contradictory as to nullify their usefulness as evidence of true medieval attitudes towards children, but this is not necessarily the case. In fact, Engelhard's views match remarkably well with those stated by the twelfth-century French philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard, who was himself the father of a son named Astralabe. Like the fictional Engelhard, Abelard is capable of expressing great parental love, and his Planctus Jacob super filios suos (Lament of Jacob over his Sons) contains touching images of the elderly Jacob recalling with fondness the lisping first words of his son Benjamin: "informes in facie teneri sermones / omnem eloquentie favum transcendentes" ("as yet unformed upon your lips, the tender words surpassing 1 I wish to thank the Australian Research Council for the provision of a post-doctoral Fellowship which has funded this research. -
La Divulgacion De La Obra De Chaucer En Espanol
LA DIVULGACION DE LA OBRA DE CHAUCER EN ESPANOL. ALGUNAS OBSERVACIONES SOBRE UNA VERSIÓN INDIRECTA DE THE MERCHANT'S TALE Francisco Javier Castillo Universidad de La Laguna Abstract Throughout ahl his life, Graciliano Afonso was really interested in trans- lation work into Spanish and he left us many literary works translated from Latin, French, Italian and English. This paper deals with Afonso's Spanish translation of Pope's January and May, his well-known adaptation of Chaucer's Merchant's Tale. De modo similar a lo que ocurre con la literatura medieval inglesa en su con- junto, la difusión en España de la producción literaria de Geoffrey Chaucer comienza en un momento manifiestamente reciente. No hay que olvidar, en este sentido, que la primera traducción española de The Parlement of Foules ve la luz en 1982 1 , que la primera versión de Troilus and Criseyde aparece en nuestro país hace tan sólo unos pocos arios 2, y que incluso la primera traducción de The Can- terbury Tales a nuestro idioma es un trabajo del presente siglo. Se trata, en conse- cuencia, de una labor de difusión que tiene una vida corta y que por tanto posee, de forma inevitable, las carencias y deficiencias características de toda actividad de joven existencia, pero que tiene delante de sí un futuro rico en posibilidades e ini- ciativas puesto que aún quedan numerosas piezas de la obra chauceriana, como The Book of the Duchess, The Hous of Fame y The Legend of Good Women, entre otras, que no poseen versión castellana. La divulgación de la producción de Chaucer en español se ha circunscrito de modo mayoritario a su trabajo más conocido, The Canterbury Tales. -
Studies in Chaucer's Imagery. William Allen Tornwall Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1956 Studies in Chaucer's Imagery. William Allen Tornwall Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Tornwall, William Allen, "Studies in Chaucer's Imagery." (1956). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 159. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/159 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDIES IN CHAUCER’S IMAGERY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by William A1. 'Tornwall B. S. Delta State Teachers College, 1937 M. A. University of Alabama, 19^3 June, 1956 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank Professor Thomas A. Kirby, who directed this dissertation, for his encouragement, assistance, and invaluable criticism. I wish to express my gratitude also to Professors Joan C. Miller, William J. Olive, Nathaniel N. Caffee, Melvin R. Watson, and Elliott D. Healy for their critical comment and helpful suggestions. My thanks are due finally to the library staff, and especially to Mrs. Anne J. Dyson of the Reference Library, for assistance in obtaining the materials for this dissertation. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................... ii ABBREVIATIONS USED FOR CHAUCER'S WRITINGS iv ABSTRACT vii I. -
Introduction : Avian Subjectivity, Genre, and Feminism 1
NOTES Introduction : Avian Subjectivity, Genre, and Feminism 1 . See Donna Haraway’s comments on “becoming animal” wherein she con- siders actual animals, When Species Meet (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2008), pp. 27–30. 2 . A nyghtyngale, upon a cedre grene, Under the chambre wal ther as she ley, Ful loude song ayein the moone shene, Peraunter in his briddes wise a lay Of love, that made hire herte fressh and gay . And as she slep, anonright tho hire mette How that an egle, fethered whit as bon, Under hire brest his longe clawes sette, And out hire herte into hire brest to gon— Of which she nought agroos, ne nothyng smerte— And forth he fleigh, with herte left for herte. ( Troilus and Criseyde , II, 918–22, 925–31) All Chaucer citations are from The Riverside Chaucer , 3rd ed., gen ed. Larry D. Benson (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), by line number. 3 . Many have commented on the association of bird song with human speech in medieval texts. See, for example, Jill Mann, From Aesop to Reynard: Beast Literature in Medieval Britain (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009), p. 193. 4 . This belabored term needs probing as the distinctions between human and animal become more ephemeral and culture coded. 5 . Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, 1989, excerpted in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, gen. ed., Vincent B. Leitch, 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 2010), pp. 2084–95. 6 . Patrick D. Murphy, “Prolegomenon for an Ecofeminist Dialogics,” Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic , ed. Dale M. Bauer and S. Jaret McKinstry (Albany: State U of New York P, 1991), p.