This course, run as part of the Humanities MA Program, offers instruction in the skills of carrying out graduate-level research. We will scale up from very short papers to aspects of managing a larger research project, as we explore how people have made sense of the past. How do we conceive of the past? How have we reimagined the past? Why do we study the past? What role do our emotional responses to the past have as we hone our scholarly responses?
Fall 2018 Schedule
Week 2: Imagining an English Nation
Bede: You'll notice that the text is divided into books and then (within each book) chapters. Watch for explanatory notes (indicated in the main text by asterisks), which appear at the end of the packet.
Ecclesiastical History: Preface, I.1-2, I.12-15, II.1, III.7, III.25, IV.2, IV.23-24, V.2
Alfred: We'll be looking at sections of Asser's Life of Alfred, as well as the Prefaces to several associated with the Alfredian court. Again, watch for explanatory notes at the end of the packet.
Asser: chapters 19-25, 75-79, 87-94, 106
Prefaces to Gregory's Dialogues, Gregory's Pastoral Care, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, Augustine's Soliloquies
Week 3: Chivalry, Magic, and Keeping Promises
Chaucer's Franklin's Prologue and Tale: Remember to keep an eye on the glosses (i.e., translations) in the margins.
The close reading (Paper 1) should include discussion of lines 1463-86.
Week 4: The Miller's Tale in Modern Nigeria
Ufuoma Overo-Tarimo, The Miller's Tale: Wahala Dey O! : Look also at Appendix A for synopses of the play and of Chaucer's original Tale.
Week 5: Book History!
Michelle P. Brown, "Form and Function," in The British Library Guide to Writing and Scripts: History and Techniques (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 50-65.
Week 6: History, Fiction, and Propaganda
Encomium Emmae Reginae ("In Praise of Queen Emma"): We will discuss material from the whole text, but if you're short of time, focus especially on the Prologue, Argumentum, and Book II.
Week 7
NO CLASS (Fall Break)
Week 8: Monsters, Violence, and Revenge
Beowulf, ll. 1-2199: The link will take you to an e-edition of Roy Liuzza's translation. If you want to read in hard copy, I strongly encourage you to use this translation, which is far more accurate than most you are likely to have seen before.
John Gardner, Grendel, chps. 1-4
Week 9
Sign up for individual conferences to discuss your projects, in place of our normal class meeting for this week. Arrive with preliminary work towards your annotated bibliography:
We will finish the conferences in time for you to attend the talk by Yossi Klein Halevi (author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor) at 7:30PM in the Donahue Auditorium, Dolan Science Center.
Week 10: Patriotism, the Common Good, and More Monstrosity
Beowulf, ll. 2200-3182
Maria Dahvana Headley, The Mere Wife, Prologue + Part I (chps. 1-16)
Week 11
Meet at Cleveland Museum of Art
Week 12: War and Communal Memory
WWI: packet with several different readings - you can see additional links from class here
Week 13
NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
Week 14: Why We Laugh
Week 15
Presentations