This course is aimed at first-year students. It is designed to introduce them to the Middle English language, essential for them to approach medieval English texts during the rest of their studies. Grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation will be treated, and language skills developed through the careful reading of various texts— including poems, drama, and tales, and focusing in this course on ‘medieval bodies’.
The course’s other aim will be for students to use their knowledge of Middle English to acquire a deeper understanding of such texts. At times courtly and solemn, at others irreverent, fun, or even obscene, the works discussed in class offer students a look at various genres of medieval literature and various writing styles. They present the human body in its many stages, exploring the questions of death, war, disease, ageing, birth, sex, pleasure, and suffering. This course will use these diverse sources to consider the perception of the body in the High to Late Middle Ages, when it was both understood as wonderful—enabling humans to experience God’s creation—and as dangerous—being easily corrupted and tempted.
Requirements
Credit requirements are active participation and written work, which students need to submit at the end of term time. This written essay will be graded.
Course Registration
Please do not forget to register on MyUnifr (both for the “Proséminaire” and the “Examen”). For the official registration deadlines of the Faculty of Arts, see:
https://www.unifr.ch/lettres/fr/etudes/cours-et-examens/inscription-aux-cours-et-examens/
Contact
aurelie.blanc[at]unifr.ch
office hours: (online, by appointment)
- Dozent/in: Aurélie Blanc