RL741 Medieval Yearnings: At the crossroads of body, mind and spirit
Fall 2000 Prof. Matilda Bruckner
Tu 3-5h Lyons 307B x23823
Carney 304 bruckner@bc.edu
Course Description:
"Love conquers all" in a wide variety of medieval texts and contexts from the spiritual to the bawdy, from the setting of the court to the lady's chamber and the tavern. The art of love was cultivated by poets and romancers, clerics and storytellers, whose works gave expression to medieval experience and laid down the seeds of our modern conceptions of love. Through a selection of different genres from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, we'll explore the heart's myriad manifestations in amour passion and love potions, sublime renunciation of the flesh and delight in corporeal pleasures, love of God and love of ladies.
In French and open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. No previous experience with medieval literature required.
All readings in bilingual editions:
Troubadour and trouvère love songs (photocopies)
Romance: Tristan et Iseut and Chrétien's Le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot ) (Lettres gothiques, Livre de poche)
Short fiction: Marie de France, Les Lais (Lettres gothiques, Livre de poche) and La Chastelaine de Vergi (10/18)
Saints' lives: Saint Alexis (OF and MF versions on reserve), Rutebeuf's St Mary the Egyptian and St Elizabeth of Hungary (on reserve)
Fabliaux (ribald tales) (10/18, on reserve) and ballades from Villon's Testament (photocopies)
Course Requirements:
Essays 50% Participation in colloquium 20% Participation in class 30%
Le Programme:
le 4 sept: Organisation et Introduction.
le 11 sept: Marie de France, "Prologue Général," Guigemar, Lanval, Yonec, Eliduc
Schnell, "The Discourse on Marriage in the Middle Ages." Speculum 73 (1998): 771-86.
le 18 sept: pas de classe (Rosh Hashanah)
le 25 sept: La Chastelaine de Vergi
Duby, "Les sires d'Ambroise" et "Les comtes de Guines," dans Le chevalier, la dame et le prêtre . (V. l'Introduction de Natalie Zemon Davis dans la traduction, The Knight, The Lady, and the Priest).
le 2 oct: pas de classe
premier devoir écrit à remettre le 5 oct
le 9 oct: Les troubadours: Guillaume IX, Jaufré Rudel, Bernard de Ventadour, La Comtessa de Dia
Javelet, "L'amour spirituel face à l'amour courtois." Entretiens sur la renaissance du XIIe siècle. 309-46.
Kellermann, "L'éclosion du lyrisme occidental: L'Amour vénération." Entretiens sur la renaissance du XIIe siècle. 373-405.
le 16 oct: Les trouvères: Gace Brulé, Chrétien de Troyes, Châtelain de Coucy, Thibaut de Champagne
Paden, "Utrum Copularentur: Of Cors ." L'Esprit créateur 19 (1979): 70-83.
Burns, "The Man Behind the Lady in Troubadour Lyric." Romance Notes 25.3 (1985): 254-70.
le 23 oct: Tristan et Iseut (Béroul, l'exil et le retour, pp. 75-161; le serment, pp. 163-219)
McCracken, "Rumors, Rivalries, and the Queen's Secret Adultery," in The Romance of Adultery: Queenship and Sexual Transgression in Old French Literature, pp. 84-118.
le 30 oct: Tristan et Iseut (Thomas, le dénouement, pp. 397-483)
le 6 nov: Chrétien de Troyes, Le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot )
le 13 nov: La Charrette (suite)
le 20 nov: Colloque sur l'amour courtois, invention du 19e siècle et débat moderne
Gaston Paris et l'invention de l'amour courtois au 19e siècle: comment utiliser son terme? - Séverine Meunier/Axelle Rochu
De amore d'Andreas Cappellanus dans le contexte médiéval et dans le débat moderne - Will Schenck/Michel Kouamé
La littérature courtoise et les concepts de l'amour qui se font concurrence: la fin'amor des troubadours et des trouvères, l'amour romanesque -- comparaisons et contrastes - Sabrina Stackler/Nadia Zaks
L'amour courtois et le critique contemporaine: approches historiques et sociologiques, approches psychanalytiques, approches féministes - Thierry Gustave/Emmanuelle Vanborre
L'amour courtois:
Boase, Origin and Meaning of Courtly Love.
Jaeger, "L'amour des rois: structure sociale d'une forme de sensibilité aristocratique." Annales ESC 3 (1991): 547-71.
Newman, ed. The Meaning of Courtly Love .
Paris, "Etudes sur les romans de la Table Ronde. Lancelot du Lac, II. Le Conte de la Charrette ." Romania 12 (1883): 459-534.
Les troubadours:
Kay, "The Contradictions of Courtly Love and the Origins of Courtly Poetry: The Evidence of the Lauzengiers," Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 26.2 (Spring 1996): 209-53.
Köhler, "Observations historiques et sociologiques sur la poésie des troubadours," Cahiers de civilisation médiévale 7 (1964): 27-51.
Kristeva, "Les troubadours: du 'grand chant courtois au récit allégorique," in Histoires d'amour, pp. 263-76.
Marchello-Nizia, "Amour courtois, société masculine et figures de pouvoir." Annales ESC 36 (1981): 969-82.
Paden, "The Troubadour's Lady as Seen through Thick history." Exemplaria 11.2 (1999): 221-44.
Andreas Capellanus:
Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love . Trans. John Jay Parry.
Brown, "Sophisticated Teaching: The Double-Talk of Andreas Cappellanus," in Contrary Things: Exegesis, Dialectic, and the Poetics of Didacticism, pp. 91-115.
de Libera, "Sexe et loisir," in Penser au moyen âge, pp. 181-245.
Moi, "Desire in language: Andreas Capellanus and the controversy of courtly love," in What is a Woman? pp. 400-21.
Thanksgiving
le 27 nov: Vies de saint: Saint Alexis; Rutebeuf, Ste Marie l'Egyptienne
Gaunt, "Saints, sex and community," in Gender and Genre, pp. 180-233.
le 4 déc: Vies de saint: Rutebeuf, Ste Elysabel
Boureau, "The Sacrality of One's Own Body in the Middle Ages." Yale French Studies 86 (1994): 5-17.
le 11 déc: Fabliaux choisis
Bullough, "Medieval Medical & Scientific Views of Women." Viator 4 (1973): 485-501.
Burns, "A Close Look at Female Orifices in Farce and Fabliau," in Bodytalk, pp. 31-70.
date à déterminer: Villon, ballades choisies
Essai final à remettre le 20 décembre