Dr. Jane Chance
Rice
University
Spring, 2005
2:30-5:30
Tuesday
English 517/WTSG 413: Medieval Women
Writers
|
This course will
examine the most
significant medieval
European women authors from the tenth
through the seventeenth centuries,
from the Byzantine Empire to France,
Germany, Italy, England, Austria,
Belgium, Bohemia, and Spain. Using a variety
of techniques and Media to access their
work—feminist and Gender theory,
reader-response theory, staging And performance, films,
recordings, slides, etc.,—we will combine
close reading with a focus On intertextuality in
an attempt to recover A feminized and
multicultural literary Tradition.
All work will be read
in translation. |
 |
Requirements: weekly/biweekly position
papers (1-2 pages; ungraded); for graduate students, one 15-25 pp. seminar paper
(to grow out of one of the position papers); for undergrads, 10-15 pp.
(Attendance is of course expected and
required, and participation gladly welcomed.)
Required Texts (in order of
use)
All
books will be on reserve at Fondren Library and can be checked out for two hours
or overnight. Any readings not available for purchase through the Book Store
will be made available for photocopying at the English Department (Herring
Hall). All are in paperback, unless otherwise indicated.
Laurie Finke, Feminist Theory, Women’s Writing,
Cornell, 1992. 0801497841 $19.95 HQ1190.F56. 1992
Joan Cadden, The Meaning of Sex Differences in the Middle Ages, Cambridge, 1995. 0521483786 $27.99
Hildegard of Bingen, On Natural Medicine and Philosophy, trans. Margret Berger, Boydell & Brewer, 1997 0-85991-551-4 $24.95 R128.H513. 1999
Jocelynne Wogan-Brown, ed. Voicing Medieval Women, Chaucer Studio, 1996 (pb and tape).0-ISBN 86396-2653 PN667.V65 1996
Marcelle Thiébaux, ed. The Writings of Medieval Women: An
Anthology, 2nd ed., Garland, 1994.
Hrotsvit, A Florilegium of Her Works, trans.
Katharina Wilson, Boydell & Brewer, 1998. 085991-489-5 $19.95 PA8340.A281
1998
Heloise and Abelard, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise,
trans. Betty Radice, Penguin, 1974. 014-044297-9 PA8201.A4 1974.
Marie de France, Lais, trans. Robert Hanning and Joan
Ferrante, Baker Books/Labyrinth, 1982. 0-8010-2031X PQ1494.L3E5 1982
Thomas de Cantimpré, The Life of Christina of St. Trond,
trans. Margot King, Peregrina Press, 1983.
Marguerite Porete, Mirror
of Simple Souls, trans. Ellen L. Babinsky. Classics of Western Spirituality,
pb. 0809134276 $16.07 BV 5091.C7P6713 1993
Angela of Foligno, Writings, trans. Cristina Mazzoni,
Boydell & Brewer, 1999. 0-85991-562X $24.95 BX4705.A 59
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love and The
Motherhood of God, trans. Frances Beer, Boydell and Brewer,
1998.0-85991-453-4 $13.97 BV48822.J8513 1008b.
Margery Kempe, The Book, trans. Lynn Staley. W. W.
Norton, 2001.0-393-97639-4
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans.
Earl Jeffrey Richards, Persea Books, 1982, rev. ed., 1998.
John M. Klassen, with Eva
Doležalovŕ and Lynn Szabo, The Letters of
the Rozmberk Sisters: Noblewomen in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia, Boydell and
Brewer, 2001.
Diane Watt,
trans.,The Paston Women : Selected Letters.
Translated from the Middle English with Introduction, Notes, and Interpretive
Essay, Boydell & Brewer, 2004.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Poems, Protest, and A Dream.
Penguin. 0-14-044703-2 $11.20 PQ7296.J6A25 1997
Films: Suzanne Schiffman, “Sorceress” (1988)—PN1997.S67 1988
Clive Donner, “Stealing Heaven” (1988)—PN1997.S7725 1989
Chris Newby, “Anchoress” (1993)—PN1997.A534 1993
Maria Louisa Bemberg, “And I, the Worst of All” (1990)—PN1997.Y646 1990
(on reserve and also available at Blockbuster on Kirby) Dates films to be
discussed are starred below. A
viewing time (if the class desires) will be arranged, most likely on
Sunday.
Syllabus
Week 1: Reading Medieval
Women
January 18: Introduction
Finke, Feminist Theory, Women’s Writing, pp. 1-28
Cadden, Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages, pp. 1-12, 54-104
Week
2: Gender in Medieval Philosophy and
Science
January 25: Gender in Hildegard and Trotula
Hildegard of Bingen, On Natural Philosophy and Medicine, trans. Berger Jackson
The Middle English Trotula Texts, in Wogan-Browne, ed. Voicing Medieval Women, pp. 31-3 and Hand-Out
Suzanne Schiffman, “Sorceress” (VHS/Overhead Projector)*
Week
3 & 4: Latin Writings by Medieval Women before the Twelfth
Century
Feb. 2: Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Gender, Drama, Staging
Hrotsvit, Dulcitius, Callimachus, Abraham, Sapientia
Hrotsvit, “Pelagius,” “Basilius,” and “Preface,” in Wilson
Gilchrist, Gender and Material Culture, pp. 1-21, 150-69, 188-93
(VHS/Overhead Projector)*
Feb. 9: Gender and the Medieval Epic
Hrotsvit, “Gesta” and “Primordia,” in Wilson
Anna Comnena, Alexiad, excerpts, in Writings of Medieval Women, ed. Thiebaux, pp. 225-239
Week
5: Epistolary Subversion and Inversion in the
Twelfth Century
Feb. 16: Heloise’s Letters
Heloise, Letters, 1-2, and Abelard, Historia calamitatum, trans. Radice; also in Writings of Medieval Women, ed. Thiebaux
Brown, “Muliebriter: Doing Gender in the Letters of Heloise,” in Chance, ed. Gender and Text, pp. 25-51
Clive Donner, “Stealing Heaven” (1988)—PN1997.S7725 1989 (VHS/Overhead Projector)*
Week
6: Problems of Desire and Honor in the Lais of
Marie de France (c. 1170)
Feb. 23: The Lais of Marie de France, trans. Hanning and Ferrante: “Guigemar,” “Le Fręne,” "Lanval,” “Läustic,” “Eliduc”
Week
7: Finding the Female Voice in
Lyrics
March 1: The Trobairitz lyric
Wogan-Browne, Voicing Medieval Women, pp. 1-9:
La Comtesse de Dia, “A chantar m’er de so q’ieu no volria” (I shall have to sing of that which I would not)
Anonymous trobairitz, “No puesc mudar no digua mon vejaire” (I cannot help expressing my opnion)
Songs of the Women Troubadours, trans. Bruckner, Shepard, White (hand-out):
La Comtesse de Dia, “Ab ioi et ab ioven m’apais”
“A chantar m’er de so q’ieu no volria”
“Estat ai en greu cossirier”
“Fin ioi me dona alegranssa”
Castelloza, “La de chantar non degra aver talan”
“Amics, s’ie.us trobes avinen”
“Mout avetz faich lonc estatge”
Read: Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner, “Fictions of the Female Voice: The Women Troubadours,” Speculum 67 (1992): 865-91.
(Recordings)
MID-TERM
BREAK (March 8)
Week
8: Medieval Women Mystics in Latin
and the Vernacular
March 15: The Paradigm Texts: The Beguine’s Life as Sign, Her Writings as Heresy
Thomas de Cantimpré, The Life of Christina of St. Trond, trans. Margot King
Barbara Newman, “Possessed by the Spirit: Devout Women, Demoniacs, and the Apostolic Life in the Thirteenth Century,” Speculum 73 (1998): 733-70.
Selections
from Marguerite Porete, Mirror of Simple Souls, trans. Ellen L. Babinsky
(Classics of Western Spirituality), pb.
Week 9: European Women Mystics: Eroticism, Sublimation, and the Gender of God
March 22: Hildegard of Bingen and the Beguines
Hildegard, Symphonia, ed. and trans. Newman, selected lyrics; recordings
Mechthild of Magdeburg and Beatrijs of Nazareth, in Writings of Medieval Women, ed. Thiebaux, pp. 385-412
Angela of Foligno, Writings, trans. Mazzoni
Slide Projector
Week
10: Fifteenth Century English
Mystics
March 29: Julian of Norwich the Anchorite:
The Theology of Maternity
Julian, Revelations, trans. Beer
Bynum, Jesus as Mother, Chapter 4 (recommended)
“The Anchoress” (Film Clips) (VCR/Overhead Projector)
Week
11: Margery Kempe the Unliked
Preacher
April 5: Margery Kempe’s Book and the Author’s Voice
Margery Kempe, Book, ed. Windeatt
Staley, “English Nation,” from Staley, Margery Kempe’s Dissenting Fictions, chap. 4 (hand-out)
SPRING RECESS (Thursday, April 7)
Week
12: Resolving the Problem of Female Desire in Courtly Songs and
Fictions
April 12: Christine de Pizan, Gender and Myth
Christine de Pizan, City of Ladies, book 1, trans. Richards
Slide Projector
Week
13: The Letters of Women from Central
and Eastern Europe and the West Compared
April 19: Selected Letters from the Rozmberk Sisters and the Paston Women
John M. Klassen, with Eva Doležalovŕ and Lynn Szabo, The Letters of the Rozmberk Sisters:
Noblewomen in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia,
Diane Watt, trans., The Letters of the Paston Women: A Selected
Translation.
Week 14: The
Writings of Women from Spain: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on
Empowerment
April 26:
Sor Juana, Poems, Protest, and a Dream
Maria Louisa Bemberg, “And I, the Worst of All” (1990)—PN1997.Y646 1990
(VCR/Overhead Projector)
May 5 @ 12
noon—final paper due.
Recommended Readings (On
Reserve; starred items available at Bookstore):
Altmann, Barbara, and
Deborah McGrady, ed. A Casebook on Christine de Pizan. Routledge.
Barratt, Alexandra, ed. Women’s Writing in Middle English,
Longman’s, 1992.
Bynum, Caroline Walker, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on
Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. Zone Books, 1992. 0942299639 $39.00 BT741.2.B95
1991
___________________. Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High
Middle Ages, University of California Press, 1982.
*Chance, Jane, ed. Gender and Text in the Later Middle
Ages. University Press of Florida, 1996, pb.
Elliott, Dyan. Proving
Woman: Female Spirituality and Inquisitional Culture in the Later Middle
Ages. Princeton, 2004. 0691118604 $24.95 BR163.E55
2004
Ferrante, Joan. To the Glory of Her Sex: Women’s
Roles in the Composition of Medieval Texts. Indiana, 1997.
Finke, Laurie. Women
Writing in Medieval England. Longmans, 1999.
Gilchrist, Roberta, Gender and Material Culture: The Archaeology
of Religious Women. Routledge, 1994. 0415089034 $114.95 BX4220.G7G55
1994
Gouma, Thalia-Peterson. Anna Komnene and her Times.
Garland, 2000.
Green, Monica, “Women’s Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europe,” Signs 14 (1989): 434-73. Available at the library.
___, The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine (The Middle Ages Series), University of Pennsylvania, 2002. 0812218086 $19.95
Grosz, Elizabeth, Space, Time, and Perversion, Routledge,
1995.
___, Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal
Feminism, Indiana University Press, 1994.
Hollywood, Amy. The Soul
As Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister
Eckhart (Studies in Spirituality and Theology X), Notre Dame Press,
2001.
Jacques de Vitry, The Life of Marie d’Oignies, trans.
Margot King, 3rd ed., Peregrina Press, 1989. 0920669026 Out of print.
BX4705.M38J33132 1989
Krueger, Roberta, Women Readers and the Ideology of Gender in
Old French Verse Romance, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Lochrie, Karma. Margery
Kempe and the Translations of the Flesh. U Pennsylvania, 1991.
Newman, Barbara. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in
Medieval Religion and Literature. University of Pennsylvania, 1995.
___. “Possessed by the
Spirit: Devout Women, Demoniacs, and the Apostolic Life in the Thirteenth
Century,” Speculum 73 (1998):
733-70.
___. Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard, Theology of
the Feminine, California, 1987.
___, ed. and trans., Hildegard of Bingen’s Symphonia,
Cornell University Press, 1988.
____, ed. Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of
Bingen and her World, University of California Press, 1998. 0520217586
$25.00 BX4700.H5V65 1998 Also available online as an
ebook.
Petroff, Elizabeth, ed., Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature,
Oxford, 1986. 0195037111 Out of print. BR53.P44 1986
Richards, Earl Jeffrey
Richards, with Joan Williamson, Nadia Margolis, and Christine Reno, ed. Reinterpreting Christine de Pizan, University of Georgia, 1992.
Solterer, Helen, The Master and Minerva: Disputing Woman in
French Medieval Culture, University of California Press, 1995. 0520088352
$25.00 PQ155.W6S65 1995
Staley, Lynn, Margery Kempe's Dissenting Fictions.
University Park: Penn State University Press, 1994.
Wheeler, Bonnie, ed.
Listening to Heloise: The Voice of a Twelfth-Century Woman. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2001. 0312213549 $75.00 BX4705.H463.L57 2000
Wilson, Katharina, ed. Medieval Women Writers, University of
Georgia Press, 1986. 082030641X $22.95 PN667.M43 1984
____, Phyllis Brown, and
Linda McMillan, eds., Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contexts, Identities, Affinities, and
Performances, University of Toronto Press, 2004.
Office
Hours:
TH 3-5 pm 235 Herring and by
appointment
jchance@rice.edu;
713-348-2625; fax 713-348-5991
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~jchance