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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