Faculty Committee
L. Aranye Fradenburg, Carol Pasternack, Michael O'Connell
Reading List
N.B. ALL WORKS IN ENGLISH, WHETHER OLD OR MIDDLE, MUST BE
READ IN THE ORIGINAL, UNLESS AN EXCEPTION IS GRANTED BY PERMISSION.
Works in other languages, indicated by an an * below,
may be read in translation. Old English works are indicated
by the # sign. The + sign
means that a booklet will be available for reproduction at the
graduate desk. The % sign means that
for the entry so marked, we expect you to make your own selections
according to the topics you wish to develop in preparing
for the exam; we will not expect you to know every medieval
lyric, for example, but we will expect you to be broadly
familiar with the lyric’s forms and concerns, and will
also expect you to be able to discuss some examples of it
in detail. As is true in other fields, the texts below function
in relation to a much larger matrix of texts, many of which
are quite formidable in size and are in Latin and French.
For the purposes of this exam, we think you can get a fairly
ready sense of this network through Chaucer: Sources and
Backgrounds, ed. Robert P. Miller, available in paperback
and at the UCSB library. Finally, we have suggested editions
for a number of works not readily available in paperback;
all are in the UCSB library.
1. *Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy
2. *Christine de Pisan. Book of the City of Ladies
3. *Froissart. Chronicles
4. *Guillaume de Lorris & Jean de Meun. Romance of the
Rose
5. *John of Salisbury. Policraticus, ed. Cary J. Nederman;
also see Joseph B. Pike’s edition
6. *Mabinogion, ed. Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones
7. *Marie de France. Lais, trans. Robert Hanning and Joan
Ferrante
8. %*Gower. Vox Clamantis, in The Major Latin Works of John
Gower, trans. E. W. Stockton
9. #Aelfric. Lives of Saints, ed. Skeat (EETS 76, 82, 94,
114; PR 1119 A2 no. 76 and 82, no. 94 and 114). In vol. 1
read Eugenia and AEtheldryda; in vol. 2, read Swythun, Oswald,
Edmund, and Eufrasia.
10. #Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, eds.
Dumville and Keynes, vols. 3 and 4. [In vol. 3, the beginning
and annals 755-871, 911-924, 933-946. In vol. 4 compare 911-19
(the Mercian Chronicle). Also read around in vols. 3 and
4 for a general sense of the Chronicle.]
11. #*Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Use the Colgrave and Minors authoritative facing translation
(library copy) or a handy paperback such as Penguin’s.
12. #Beowulf
13. #Old English Short Poems: +Wulf and Eadwacer, ed. Baker,
OE Newsletter; Wanderer, Seafarer, Dream of the Rood, Wife’s
Lament (any teaching edition)
14. #Judith, ed. B. J. Timmer
15. Book of Margery Kempe, eds. S. B. Meech and H. E. Allen
(EETS 212, PR 1119 A2 no. 212) or ed. Lynn Staley, TEAMS
Middle English Texts Series (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute
Publications, Western Michigan U, 1996) (a reasonably priced
paperback).
16. Chaucer. Book of the Duchess,
17. Chaucer, Parlement of Fowles,
18. Chaucer, Legend of Good Women
19. Chaucer. Canterbury Tales
20. Chaucer. Troilus and Criseyde
21. Dunbar, ed. Kinsley or Bawcutt: “Hale sterne superne”; “Quhen
Merche wes with variand windis past” (“The Thrissill
and the Rois”); “Blyth Aberdeane”; “The
Goldyn Targe”; “Lang heff I maed of ladyes quhytt” (“Ane
Blak Moir”); “The Tretis of the tua mariit Wemen
and the Wedo”; “Off Februar the fyiftene nycht” (“The
Dance of the sevin deidly synnis”); “I that in
heill wes and gladnes” (“Lament for the Makaris”); “Quhy
will ye marchantis of renoun”; “The Flyting of
Dunbar and Kennedie”; “Sir Jhon Sinclair begowthe
to dance” (“Of a Dance in the Quenis Chalmer”); “Schir,
ye have mony servitouris”; “We that ar heir in
hevins glory” (“Dirige to the king”)
22. Henryson. Testament of Cresseid, ed. Denton Fox
23. Julian of Norwich. Book of Showings, ed. E. Colledge
and J. Walsh (read longer version)
24. Katherine Group. Seinte Katerine, ed. d’Ardenne
and Dobson; Seinte Margaret, ed. Millett & Wogan-Browne;
Hali Meidenhad, ed. F. J. Furnivall.
25. %Lyrics and short poems. Consult Robert D. Stevick, ed.
One Hundred Middle English Lyrics; the Norton edition of
Middle English lyrics; R. H. Robbins, ed. Historical Poems
of the XIVth and XVth centuries (PR 1203 R58) and Secular
Lyrics of the XIVth and XVth centuries
26. Malory. Vinaver edition: The Tale of King Arthur, Sankgreal,
Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere, The Most Piteous Tale
of the Morte Arthur saunz Guerdon.
27. Mandeville. Travels
28. Mankind, ed. D. Bevington in Medieval Drama
29. Pearl
30. Piers Plowman B Text.
31. Romances. Donald B. Sands, ed. Middle English Verse Romances
(Horn, Havelok, Athelstan, Orfeo, Launfal, The Wedding of
Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell)
32. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
33. %South English Legendary
34. York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling, ed.
Richard Beadle and Pamela King; also “The Second Shepherds’ Play” from
the Wakefield aka Towneley Cycle (available in the Norton
Anthology of English Literature and the Longman Anthology
of British Literature)
35. English Wycliffite Writings, ed. Anne Hudson (BX4900
S44)
LIST OF TOPICS TO THINK ABOUT
We’ve organized the readings on the exam list into
topic groups to help you think about how to approach these
works. You will want to think about your own ways of approaching
them; but the topics we list or describe below will suggest
some ways you could begin to organize your thinking. If you
have questions about secondary bibliography, please consult
with Professors Fradenburg and Pasternack.
LANGUAGE, GENRES, STYLES
These issues are relevant to each work on the list. We’d
like you to think about the significance, cultural and otherwise,
of medieval shapings of the English language. This would
include: verse forms (for example, alliterative verse and its use in political
poetry; aureate verse and the function of splendor in Dunbar’s
poetry and the lyrics to the Virgin); the use of continental
forms (Chaucer’s “imports,” for example);
vernacular patriotism and nationalism; prose styles (e.g.
Malory); lyric and other “voices” (for example,
in connection with questions of subjectivity); rhetorics
of affect (for example, the discourses of passion and contentment
in mystical writing).
HISTORIES AND BIOGRAPHIES.
Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Froissart. Chronicle
John of Salisbury. Policraticus
Wakefield Cycle
Judith
Aelfric. Lives of Saints
South English Legendary
Christine de Pisan. Book of the City of Ladies
Chaucer. Legend of Good Women
RELIGION AND COMMUNITY.
Wanderer, Seafarer, Dream of the Rood, Andreas
Aelfric. Lives of Saints
Bede. Ecclesiastical History
Wycliffite writings (English)
Book of Margery Kempe
Julian of Norwich. Book of Showings
Katherine, Margaret, Holy Maidenhood, selections from South
English Legendary
Piers Plowman
Pearl
Wakefield Cycle
Mankind
Religious lyrics
COURT CULTURE
A. GENERAL COURT CULTURE
Beowulf
Bede. Ecclesiastical History
Gawain
Malory
Dunbar
Henryson. Testament of Cresseid
Mabinogion
Policatricus
Romance of the Rose
Lais, Marie de France.
City of Ladies.
B. COURT CULTURE. Richard II and Henry IV.
Chaucer selections
Piers Plowman
Gower. Vox Clamantis
Froissart
Wycliffite (English)
BORDERS. [Political, material, formal, psychological/ spiritual]
Beowulf
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
Dream of the Rood
Mabinogion
Sir Orfeo
Gawain
Malory
Pearl
The Book of Margery Kempe
Mandeville. Travels
Henryson
Dunbar
John of Salisbury
GENDERS AND SEXUALITIES
Beowulf
Wulf and Eadwacer, Wife’s Lament
Judith
Romance of the Rose
Christine de Pisan. Book of the City of Ladies.
Julian of Norwich. Showings
The Book of Margery Kempe
Saints’ Lives (Anglo Saxon and Middle English)
Chaucer
Henryson
Marie de France
ME Lyrics
Romances
Revised 6/99
|
