Description of Paper VI: FRENCH
LITERATURE TO 1530
1. Course Content
Studying literature in
the medieval period (1100-1530) involves asking, and finding richly fascinating
answers to, fundamental questions: in a pre-print culture involving both oral
performance and written transmission through manuscripts, whom do we call ‘an
author’? Indeed, what constitutes ‘a work’ or ‘a text’? What was the role of
literary production in ethical, social, or political terms? From geohistorical
and linguistic perspectives, the ‘French’ identity of literature in this period
also needs careful interrogation, given shifting territorial boundaries and
dialectal varieties of language. Through your studies, you will encounter works
whose assumptions and values (about gender identity or religious opposition,
for instance) may feel alien and entirely different from your modern reading
experience; we will unpack these perceptions and their contexts, and often
uncover unexpected points of connection across time and cultural difference as
part of this conversation. Other interesting avenues of enquiry can include the
extent to which these earliest texts can be viewed as precursors of later
genres and types of text: for instance, can one see the seed of the novel to be
sown in the period, and if so, where? Or thinking in terms of literary form,
what roles do verse and prose play in relation to genre?
To ensure breadth of
coverage, the paper divided into ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ sections (around the
date of the accession of the first Valois king, Philippe VI, in 1328). The
earlier period includes works like the courtly romances of Chrétien de Troyes,
the lais of Marie de France and others, saints’
lives, the secular stage, comic narratives, Arthurian prose romances, and the
Roman de la rose. In the second half of the period you
may encounter lyric and narrative poets like Guillaume de Machaut, Alain Chartier, Charles d'Orléans, and
François Villon, along with prose narratives, chronicles, farces, and the first
professional woman writer Christine de Pizan.
2. Teaching
Normally a variety of topics are explored in eight tutorials,
often with a change of tutor according to the topics chosen. A
number of lecture courses are offered on topics and texts from the
period. There are a range of learning support resources available on Canvas,
including podcasts of lectures on reading Old French, digitised primary and
secondary sources, past lecture slides, and bibliographies for all topics.
There are no compulsory language or commentary exercises. A high proportion of
the texts studied are available in excellent and inexpensive editions in the
series ‘Lettres gothiques’
(Livre de Poche).
3. Examination
The paper is divided into two in
accordance with the division explained above. A total of three essay
questions must be answered, to include questions from both sections. Questions
typically invite candidates to respond with reference to one or more
appropriate texts/authors, but the general rubric of the paper requires
candidates, in at least one of their answers, to refer to two or more
texts/authors. Most questions are topic-specific, but more general questions
also offer candidates the freedom to choose which topics to consider.
4. Introductory Reading
The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French
Literature, ed. S. Gaunt and S. Kay
(Cambridge: CUP, 2008) (available online via Solo)
Le Dictionnaire des
lettres françaises: le moyen âge, ed.
G. Hasenohr and M.
Zink (Paris: Librairie générale
française, 1992) (available in the Taylorian for
reference, and in several College libraries)
Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, ed. W. W. Kibler et al (New York & London: Garland,
1995) (available in Taylor Teaching Collection and partially online via Google
Books)
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French at Oxford website
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