FRW 4410
  Readings in Early French Medieval Literature
FRW 6900
  Courtly Love in Medieval France

Monday, Periods 9-11
CBD 310                                                                                   Fall 2003
                                                                                                 Dr. William Calin
 
 

Courtly Love in Medieval France

I.   Romantic love, as we know it, is not a universal in the human condition.   It is an historical construct that first came into being, in the West, in twelfth-century France.  This course will focus on the structures and functioning of the new cultural entity, and on the “romances” in which it flourished.  Medieval romance, the dominant narrative genre of the time, predates and leads up to our modern novel.  We shall scrutinize the relationship of literature to historical reality (the mind-set of a feudal-aristocratic and classical-Christian culture, knighthood and chivalry, attitudes toward women, etc.) and the workings of the literature itself.  Among the critical approaches to be employed: Freudian, Jungian, Marxist, gender-related, narratology, and intertextuality.

II.  Students are expected to keep up with reading assignments and to participate actively in class discussion.

One ten-to-twelve page paper (FRW 4214) or one twelve-to-fifteen page paper (FRW 6346). No exams. No incompletes.

III.  Marie de France, Lais.
 Beroul + Thomas, Tristan et Iseut.
 Chrétien de Troyes, Chevalier de la Charrette.
 Chrétien de Troyes, Chevalier au Lion.
 Guillaume de Lorris, Roman de la Rose.
 Guillaume de Machaut, Fontaine amoureuse.

IV. August         25    Introduction
     September     1     Secular Holiday
                         8     Trouvère Lyrics
                        15    Marie, Lanval, Chevrefoil
                        22    Marie, Yonec, Laüstic
                        29    Beroul, Tristan
     October         6     Beroul + Thomas, Tristan
                        13    Thomas, Tristan
                        20    Chrétien, Charrette I
                        27    Chrétien, Charrette II
     November      3     Chrétien, Lion I
                        10    Chrétien, Lion II
                        17    Guillaume, Rose I
                        24    Guillaume, Rose II
     December      1     Machaut, Fontaine
                         8     Reading Period
 

V.  Office:             236 Dauer
     Office Hours:   Tuesday + Friday, Period 9
     Office Phone:   392-2016  x 238
     Home Phone:   373-3739
     Courriel:          wcalin@rll.ufl.edu