Fall 2018 – ENGL 670/Gender at the Round Table

ENGL 670
3 graduate credits
Term: Fall 2018
Time: 5:00-7:30 p.m. T
Room: Bliss Hall 148
Prof. G. Steinberg
Office: Bliss Hall 128
(inside Bliss Hall 129)
Office Phone: 771-2106
E-mail : gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

TEXTBOOKS:

    • King Arthur’s Death:  The Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthur (Medieval Institute, 1994), ISBN 9781879288386
    • Sir Gawain:  Eleven Romances and Tales, ed. Thomas Hahn (Medieval Institute, 1995), ISBN 9781879288591
    • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. and ed. James Winny (Broadview, 1995), ISBN 9780921149927
    • Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur, ed. Stephen H. A. Shepherd (Norton, 2003), ISBN 9780393974645
    • Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King (Penguin, 1989), ISBN 9780140422535
    • Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Dover, 2001), ISBN 9780486415918
    • Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, ed. John F. Plummer (Penguin, 2006), ISBN 9780451530240

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  The brotherhood of the Round Table.  Virgins.  Knights in shining armor.  Adultery.  The Holy Grail.  This course explores gender as a central concern in stories about King Arthur from the Middle Ages and the 19th century.  Among texts and authors included in the course are The Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, Sir Thomas Malory, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Mark Twain.

GOALS.  In terms of my goals for this course, I want you

    1. to become more aware of, question, and enrich your basic assumptions about gender, culture, and literature,
    2. to gain a basic understanding of some of the historical constructions of gender in the Middle Ages and the 19th century,
    3. to become familiar with some of the seminal texts of Arthurian literature from the Middle Ages and the 19th century, and
    4. to demonstrate facility with critical practices in research and writing in the field of English.

Also, the following goals for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences apply in this course:

#1 Written Communication
#5 Critical Analysis and Reasoning: Ability to critique the arguments of others in the discipline and the construction of one’s own arguments in the discipline, using data/evidence are a focus of instruction and/or the ability to analyze linguistic and cultural patterns
#6 Information Literacy: Evaluating the validity and/or reliability of a source
#7 Interpret Language and Symbol

The principal learning activity in this course is reading – the reading both of literary texts and of scholarship about them. Readings provide students with a foundation of knowledge about the Middle Ages, the 19th century, and gender theory, useful both to secondary English teachers (who may need to broaden their instructional repertoire in order to teach Chaucer, Malory, Tennyson, and other texts in their classrooms) and to prospective Ph.D. students (who need a broad base of knowledge in the foundational authors, such as Malory and Tennyson, in order to navigate their doctoral studies successfully).  In order to facilitate your learning from your reading, readings for class are opened up through response papers and through participation in class discussion.  In addition, the writing of a seminar paper helps to develop your skills in terms of critical practices in research and writing in the field of English.

REQUIREMENTS.  This course has the following graded assignments:

    1. 8 two-page response papers (altogether worth 25% of your final grade),
    2. a seminar paper of 12-18 pages (not including notes and bibliography) with appropriate research (40%), and
    3. a comprehensive final exam (35%).

Your seminar paper is an opportunity for you to show me what you’ve learned in class, applying what you’ve learned in a new context.  The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle will be the focus of your seminar paper.  You may focus on Pyle’s text alone or compare it to one of the works assigned for class.  In either case, you need to argue a clear, specific, original thesis, and you need to do so with professionalism appropriate to a young scholar in the discipline of English.  I expect you to enter into the critical conversation going on in scholarly articles and books on your topic, saying something worth saying while responding to what others have said before you.  Needless to say, professionalism in terms of standard punctuation, spelling, and grammar is also a must.  During the last few weeks of class, you will submit a topic and a bibliography for your seminar paper in advance of submitting the seminar paper itself.

In the course of the term, you are required to write 8 short, informal response papers (about 2 double-spaced pages each) on the critical readings – the scholarly articles – assigned for class.  You may choose on which days you want to submit a response paper, as long as by the end of the term you have submitted 8.  You may not submit a response paper on a day for which there is no critical essay assigned.  I ask you to type your response papers and submit them in hard copy in class (so that they are easier for me to read), but they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response.  You are to summarize the main point of the scholarly article assigned for the day (in a paragraph or less) and respond to that main point in a critical but reflective fashion.  Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Be as specific and focused as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper.  I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the scholarly essay assigned for the day.  You may not submit more than one response paper on a single day, nor may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class – absolutely no exceptions.  Response papers will be graded pass/fail.  You may submit more than 8 response papers in the course of the term (to make up for any response papers that do not receive a grade of “Pass”), but no matter how many extra response papers you submit, you will receive credit for no more than 8.  Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, focus, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it in class on the assigned day), you will receive all the credit that the response paper is worth (i.e., 100% or A++).

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:  A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%.  This scale is absolute.  Because the response papers are in a sense a form of extra credit built into this course from the start, I do not give extra credit at the end of the semester to help students raise their grade even a whisker.  So, even if, at the end of the semester, you are just .0001 points away from an A-, your final grade will be a B+.

OFFICE HOURS.  My office is inside Bliss Hall 129 (the main English Department office), and my office hours this term are 1:30-5:00pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.  If you cannot see me during these hours, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time.  You may also contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department office in Bliss 124.  Email is generally the fastest way to contact me.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your graded work.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of information for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting.  For more information on the College’s attendance policy, please go to http://policies.tcnj.edu/policies/digest.php?docId=9134.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.  Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to gain academic advantage through dishonest means, to submit, as his or her own, work which has not been done by him/her or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty would include, but is not limited to: submitting as his/her own a project, paper, report, test, or speech copied from, partially copied, or paraphrased from the work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright, or in manuscript form). Credit must be given for words quoted or paraphrased. The rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral.  TCNJ’s academic integrity policy is available on the web at http://policies.tcnj.edu/policies/digest.php?docId=7642.

ACCOMMODATIONS.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability.  The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community.  If you require special assistance, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities will be respected.  For more information, please go to http://policies.tcnj.edu/policies/digest.php?docId=8082 and http://differingabilities.pages.tcnj.edu/.

FINAL EXAM.  As required by the College’s Final Exam/Evaluation Policy (http://policies.tcnj.edu/policies/digest.php?docId=9396), this course has an in-class final exam; the exam is comprehensive and integrative in nature and counts for at least 15% and not more than 50% of your final grade.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.  I would like to create a learning environment for my students that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, mental and physical health, politics, etc.).  If you go by a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in your official records, please let me know.  If you feel that your performance in class is being impacted by your experiences outside of class, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me.  If something is said in class (by anyone) that makes you feel unwelcome, targeted, or disparaged as a person, please talk to me about it.  I will expect our whole class to strive always to honor every form of diversity in our classroom.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  This schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the professor.  Changes made after the beginning of the term will be shown in red.

Date Assignment
T Aug 28 Sir Launfal (available online for free at http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/laskaya-and-salisbury-middle-english-breton-lays-sir-launfal)

Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman, “Magical Mistress Tour:  Patronage, Intellectual Property, and the Dissemination of Wealth in the Lais of Marie de France,” Signs 25 (2000), 479-503 (available through JSTOR)

The Stanzaic Morte Arthur, lines 1-1466

T Sep 4 NO CLASS (Monday schedule instead)
T Sep 11 The Stanzaic Morte Arthur, lines 1467-3970

June Hall McCash, “The Role of Women in the Rise of the Vernacular,” Comparative Literature 60 (2008), 45-57 (available through JSTOR)

T Sep 18 The Alliterative Morte Arthur, lines 1-3175

Patricia DeMarco, “An Arthur for the Ricardian Age:  Crown, Nobility, and the Alliterative ‘Morte Arthure,’” Speculum 80 (2005), 464-493 (available through JSTOR)

T Sep 25 The Alliterative Morte Arthur, lines 3176-4346

Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle

Sarah Lindsay, “The Courteous Monster:  Chivalry, Violence, and Social Control in The Carl of Carlisle,” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 114 (2015), 401-418 (available through JSTOR)

T Oct 2 The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Gail Ashton, “The Perverse Dynamics of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Arthuriana 15 (2005), 51-74 (available through Project Muse)

T Oct 9 Malory, pp. 40-177 (II-VI)

Amy S. Kaufman, “The Law of the Lake:  Malory’s Sovereign Lady,” Arthuriana 17 (2007), 56-73 (available through Project Muse)

T Oct 16 NO CLASS (Fall Break)
T Oct 23 Malory, pp. 177-227 (VII), 462-490 (XI), and 496-587 (XIII-XVII)

Karen Cherewatuk, “Born-Again Virgins and Holy Bastards:  Bors and Elyne and Lancelot and Galahad,” Arthuriana 11 (2001), 52-64 (available through Project Muse)

T Oct 30 Malory, pp. 588-698 (XVIII-XXI)

Kenneth Hodges, “Wounded Masculinity:  Injury and Gender in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur,” Studies in Philology 106 (2009), 14-31 (available through JSTOR)

T Nov 6 Idylls of the King, pp. 19-167

Ingrid Ranum, “An Adventure in Modern Marriage:  Domestic Development in Tennyson’s Geraint and Enid and The Marriage of Geraint,” Victorian Poetry 47 (2009), 241-257 (available through Project Muse)

T Nov 13 Idylls of the King, pp. 168-302

Charlotte Boyce, “‘Mighty through thy Meats and Drinks Am I’:  The Gendered Politics of Feast and Fast in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King,”  Victorian Poetry 52 (2014), 225-249 (available through Project Muse)

T Nov 20 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, pp. 1-131

Seth Lerer, “Hello, Dude:  Philology, Performance, and Technology in Twain’s Connecticut Yankee,” American Literary History 15 (2003), 471-503 (available through Project Muse)

T Nov 27 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, pp. 132-268

Bernard J. Dobski, “‘We Should See Certain Things Yet, Let Us Hope and Believe’:  Technology, Sex, and Politics in Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee,” The Review of Politics 69 (2007), 599-624 (available through JSTOR)

SEMINAR PAPER topic DUE (in writing in class)

T Dec 4 SEMINAR PAPER bibliography DUE (in class)
T Dec 11 SEMINAR PAPER DUE (in Canvas before class)

Be prepared to speak briefly about your paper and to discuss The Story of King Arthur and His Knights in class.

T Dec 18 FINAL EXAM