LIT 499/Seminar in Research and Theory: Ecocriticism, Unnatural Nature, and Medieval Literature – Spring 2021

LIT 499 – 05 1 course unit Term: Spring 2021 Time: 3:30-4:50 p.m. MR Room: Social Sciences 324 Prerequisites: LIT 201 and 202

Prof. G. Steinberg Office: Bliss 216 Office Phone: (609) 771-2106 Office Hours:  by appointment only (remote) E-mail : gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

TEXTBOOKS:

• • • The Fabliaux, trans. Nathaniel E. Dubin (Liveright, 2013), ISBN 9780871403575
    • Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Romance of the Rose, trans. Frances Horgan (Oxford University Press, 2009), ISBN 9780199540679
    • Geoffrey Chaucer, Dream Visions and Other Poems, ed. Kathryn L. Lynch (Norton, 2006), ISBN 9780393925883
    • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. and trans. James Winny (Broadview, 1992), ISBN 9780921149927
    • Sir Gawain:  Eleven Romances and Tales, ed. Thomas Hahn (TEAMS, 1995), ISBN 9781879288591

    • Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: Seventeen Tales and the General Prologue, ed. V. A. Kolve and Glending Olson, 3rd ed. (Norton, 2018), ISBN 9781324000563

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  The official catalogue description of the course is available in PAWS.  In this particular section, we focus on ecocriticism and medieval literature.

Lots of the stories in medieval literature take place in “natural” settings.  This capstone course examines how medieval writers conceive of and portray the natural world – in comparison with how we understand nature today and in the context of Gary Alan Fine’s theory of naturework and Donna Haraway’s theory of the cyborg.  We read lots of different medieval texts, including Arthurian romances, fabliaux (dirty stories that engage in social satire), and dream visions. This course also has a community-engaged learning component, working with a community partner on an environmental education project that uses what we have learned in class. From knights wandering in forest wilds to modern-day initiatives to encourage gardening for wildlife, we consider how humans define, describe, and engage with the natural world.

When the College went through a curriculum revision several years ago, the vast majority of undergraduate courses were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit (1-unit) learning experiences. While most of the classes continued to meet for only 3 academic hours per week (typically 150 minutes on the TCNJ schedule grid), it was understood that the “transformed” courses offered a depth of learning with additional learning tasks unfolding in the equivalent of a fourth hour, including, sometimes, an actual additional hour of class interaction. As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course,

F) The students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no other additional classroom space is needed.

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

1. 1. understand better that human cultures from different times and places construct “nature” differently and that their constructions of nature affect human behavior toward the environment,
   2. become familiar with a variety of medieval texts of different genres,
   3. demonstrate the ability to analyze medieval literature and culture from an ecocritical perspective.
   4. practice writing for different kinds of audiences in different media,
   5. conduct advanced research in the humanities by building upon the basic research skills first introduced in Approaches to Literature,
   6. demonstrate the kind of intellectual independence and sustained, critical thought required for the production of high-quality literary, linguistic, textual and/or rhetorical scholarship,
   7. discover, assert and insert your own critical “voice” into the ongoing dialogues, critiques, and debates that characterize the humanities,
   8. apply a range of critical theories – linguistic, literary, rhetorical and/or cultural – to texts and their contexts in order to elucidate complex issues and suggest additional avenues of critical inquiry,
   9. think theoretically, moving beyond issues of textual analysis into more abstract modes of thinking, and
   10. communicate your ideas and your findings with precision, appropriateness, and clarity.

This course also contributes to the following Middle States goals for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences and the English Department:

#1 Written Communication
#2 Oral 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
#12 Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of critical, generic, and literary traditions (including recent theoretical approaches) that shape – and are shaped by – literary discourses and texts of particular periods or movements
#15 Students will be able to read a literary work and characterize its main aesthetic, structural, and rhetorical strategies in an argumentative, thesis-driven essay or in a writing workshop
#16 Students will be able to write a substantial essay of literary scholarship that is theoretically informed and engages with current research and criticism in relevant fields of study, asserting their own critical voice in ongoing dialogues and debates

REQUIREMENTS. This course has the following graded assignments:

1. 1. eight two-page response papers (together worth 20% of your final grade),
   2. a research assignment (10% of your final grade),
   3. a community-engaged learning project (20%),
   4. a seminar paper (30%), and
   5. a comprehensive exam (20%).

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 assignments 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+.

PROFESSOR’S AVAILABILITY.  My office is Bliss Hall 216, but my office hours this term are by appointment and remote only.  You may contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu) to arrange a virtual or phone “meeting.”  You may also call my office phone (609-771-2106) and leave a message (if I do not answer), but email is by far the best way to get in touch with me.

ATTENDANCE.  This course is being taught in a “flex” format (because of the coronavirus pandemic).  Students may “meet” synchronously online during the scheduled time for our class on each of the regular class days of the semester (unless otherwise noted in the course schedule below), or they may meet in person physically in the classroom.  For in-person attendance, instructions will be emailed to you before the first class meeting.  Whether attending in person or online, you are expected to attend all class meetings.  The links for joining the synchronous online class meetings are available in Canvas under “Zoom.”  If you have technology issues or needs during the semester, please contact the IT Helpdesk at (609) 771-2660 or helpdesk@tcnj.edu.

Please note: I am going to require you to keep your camera on for the class’s Zoom meetings.  If you have a good and pressing reason that you need to keep your camera off, let me know before class.  Otherwise, please keep your camera on.  It’s virtually impossible to have a vital discussion when only some people have their camera on.

In general, I will not take or record attendance for our class meetings, but regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of class. Class activities will constitute 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 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 information on the College’s attendance policy, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=77.

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 https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=130.

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 accommodations, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities are respected. For more information, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=145 and https://arc.tcnj.edu/.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. We are all enriched by greater diversity, and we all bring different perspectives to this class. I want to create a learning environment that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including your race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, mental and physical health, differing abilities, 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 experiences related to your identity outside of class, please don’t hesitate to talk to me. If something is said or posted in class (by anyone, including me) that makes you feel uncomfortable, targeted, misunderstood, or disparaged as a person, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity. To see TCNJ’s official diversity statement, please go to https://diversity.tcnj.edu/campus-diversity-statement/.

LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM. A ¼ unit (one credit) Languages Across the Curriculum independent study (LAC 391) may be added to this course for those students who have intermediate level proficiency in another language and who wish to complement the work in this course by utilizing their language skills. LAC 391 (P/U grading only) will be noted on the student’s transcript. Please contact Dr. Deborah Compte at dcompte@tcnj.edu for more information. Students must contact Dr. Compte to enroll in the LAC independent study by Monday, February 8, 2021.

FINAL EVALUATION. As required by the College’s Final Exam/Evaluation Policy (https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=266), this course has a seminar paper as its final evaluation; the paper is comprehensive and integrative in nature and counts for at least 15% and not more than 50% of your final grade.

RESPONSE PAPERS. You are required to write 8 short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the literary readings for class. You may only submit a response paper on a day for which we have a literary reading assignment, although you may choose which of those days you want to submit a paper (as long as you have completed 8 total by the last day that we have a literary reading). You should write your response paper before the class meeting at which we discuss the reading assignment covered in your paper.  You should submit each response paper by “sharing” it with me as a Google Doc before class on the literary reading’s assigned day.  Be sure to grant me “editing” or “suggesting” status when you share the Google Doc with me (so that I can comment directly on the paper).

Your response papers should focus on one of the following topics:

1. 1. Naturework. How does the reading assignment make sense of and express the relationship of humans to the environment?  Into which competing ideological vision of nature does the text seem to fit – protectionist, organicist, or humanist?  Is the reading misanthropic, viewing human beings as a blight upon an authentic, uncontaminated natural world?  Is the text romantic or pastoral, viewing humans as simply part of an organic whole with nature rather than alienated from it?  Does the reading view nature solely as a resource or tool to be tamed and used to serve human needs according to human choices?  Does the reading want to protect nature, embrace it, or use it?
   2. Cyborgs. How does the reading assignment break down the boundaries of dualisms – between male and female, human and animal, technology and nature, for example?  What “cyborg” figures show up in the reading?  What kinds of disruptive technologies exist in the text?  In what ways do technology and nature meld or transgress boundaries?  Where are boundaries reinforced or reproduced?  Where do you see an emphasis on the strict integrity of objects or people?  How do monsters in the reading help redefine the proper limits of community and shore up the boundaries between male and female, human and animal, technology and nature?  How do they threaten or erase those boundaries?

Response papers will be graded Pass/Fail.  I ask you to type and double-space them (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.  Don’t worry about answering every question under the topics above.  Think about the day’s reading assignment in relation to one or two of the questions; then, write a response.  Be as specific 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 don’t want a five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the reading assignment for the day.  But don’t focus too narrowly on just one scene or passage from the text.  Try to generalize about the text and then look at specific examples from all over to support your generalization.  Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it before class on the proper day), you will receive all the credit that the response paper is worth (i.e., 100% = A++).

The purpose of the response papers is

1. 1. to verify that you are doing the readings for class,
   2. to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
   3. to help me see where you’re struggling with the readings for class,
   4. to help you to develop your intellectual independence and your confidence as a reader, and
   5. to serve as a safe space for you to generate and try out potential ideas for your seminar paper.

You may submit more than 8 response papers in the course of the semester (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 not receive credit for more than 8.  You may NOT submit more than one response paper for a single day, NOR may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class.

RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT.  Find at least six scholarly sources (articles or book chapters) relevant to a particular topic or theme related to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  As much as possible, these sources should be recent (published within the last 30 years) and should be the best, most significant sources that you can find – not simply the first six that come up in a search.  If there is an older article that seems to have had significant influence on everything since, you should include it among your six, even if it was published more than 30 years ago.  If there has been very little (or nothing) published on your chosen topic/theme in the last 30 years, you may go further back in time, but if I do a superficial search and find tons of more recent sources, your older sources will not suffice.  Once you have chosen your sources, compose a brief description (maximum of 1 double-spaced page, not including your “Works Cited”) that situates the sources in relation to one another.  What is the “conversation” in which these sources are engaged (literally or figuratively)?  What are the positions that the participants take in that conversation?  Do not simply summarize one source after the other.  Put the sources in relation to one another within a larger narrative of an unfolding conversation about your chosen topic/theme.  Your paper will be assessed based on the following criteria:

1. 1. Does the description of the sources have a clear logic of its own?  Rather than summarizing one source after another after another, does the description situate the sources in relation to one another in an interesting and accurate way?
   2. Is the “conversation” among the sources significant?  Does the conversation include important, interesting perspectives on the highlighted topic/theme?
   3. How recent and important are the sources?  Are the sources the most significant and authoritative sources available (e.g., published in the most important journals, written by important scholars, cited by other sources)?
   4. Is the description of the sources and their relation to one another accurate and fair?  Are characterizations of each individual source clear and accurate enough to give a proper understanding of the main point of the source to someone who is unfamiliar with it?
   5. Does the paper have unified, well-developed, and coherent paragraphs throughout?
   6. Does the paper use proper MLA documentation format, including a correct and complete “Works Cited” page?
   7. Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, and appropriate to an academic setting?

COMMUNITY-ENGAGED PROJECT.  You will be divided into five groups, along with the students from Prof. Diane Bates’s SOC 345, and each group will complete the following elements:

1. 1. participation in four joint meetings of our class with Prof. Diane Bates’s SOC 345 (during our regular class times on the dates in the course schedule below),
   2. pre- and post-tests (administered at two of the joint meetings in #1) or an alternate assignment (a literature review) for those who prefer not to participate in the pre- and post-tests,
   3. background research for interviews with certified and non-certified Ewing gardeners (in collaboration with the students in Prof. Diane Bates’s SOC 345, who will conduct the interviews),
   4. the creation of the content for a profile of a certified Ewing gardener for the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project website (in collaboration with students in Prof. Diane Bates’s SOC 345), and
   5. a presentation of the results of your group’s interviews and your gardener profile to your classmates and Joanne Mullowney of the Ewing Green Team (at a joint meeting of our class and Prof. Bates’s SOC 345).

In addition, you will be responsible individually for

1. 6. the creation of content for a new web page for the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project website (in collaboration with Joanne Mullowney of the Ewing Green Team, using information from #3, #4, and #5 above).  Depending on the needs of the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project, the new web page may be a book review, a page for elementary-aged children, a press release, or something else.  You will work collaboratively with Ms. Mullowney and your classmates in planning your page, but each of you will be responsible individually for creating the content of your own page.

More information about the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project and about the grading criteria for this assignment will be provided during the joint class meetings with Prof. Bates’s SOC 345.

SEMINAR PAPER.  In a seminar paper of 15-20 pages, argue a clear, specific, original thesis on an ecocritical topic and medieval text of your choice (approved by me).  I expect you to show sophistication in terms of your theoretical thinking and to enter into the critical conversation going on in scholarly articles and books on your topic, saying something new while also responding to what others have said before you.

Your seminar paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

1. 1. Does the paper have a clear, specific, original thesis?  Does the thesis offer an interesting perspective or “hook” that is sophisticated in its theoretical thinking and provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
   2. Does the paper use a variety of sources (rather than rely heavily on a single source)?  Does the paper synthesize its sources, characterizing the critical conversation on its topic and entering into that conversation in a meaningful way?  Does the paper summarize information and arguments from its sources and from the critical conversation accurately and fairly?  Does the paper respond to its sources critically and thoughtfully (rather than simply cite sources to lend authority to its own pronouncements)?
   3. Does the paper engender confidence that its research is reasonably authoritative and complete?  As much as possible, are the paper’s sources recent (i.e., published within the last 30 years)?  Are all the paper’s sources appropriately scholarly?
   4. Does the paper’s organization progress logically?  Does the paper have a clear and consistent overall organization that relates all the ideas of the paper together in support of the thesis (rather than simply list random observations without relation to one another or to the thesis)?  Does the paper have appropriate transitions to aid the reader in following the paper’s logic (rather than weak transitions, such as “The first…,” “Another…,” and “…also…”)?
   5. Does the paper provide relevant, concrete evidence and logically persuasive reasons for every assertion?  Is factual information in the paper accurate?
   6. Does the paper show sensitivity to the concrete historicity of the text(s) under consideration (rather than treat texts as timeless museum pieces or reflect on them anachronistically)?
   7. Does the paper exhibit confidence and insight when analyzing passages, texts, and scholars not discussed in class?
   8. Does the introduction to the paper offer an interesting, helpful preview of the content, logic, and organization of the paper?
   9. Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, and appropriate to an academic setting?

You are required to submit a topic paragraph leading up to your seminar paper.    This topic paragraph is simply a paragraph in which you describe the topic that you’re planning to write about in your paper.  You are also required to attend two virtual conferences a couple weeks apart.  At these conferences, you should be prepared to summarize the progress that you have made on your seminar paper up to that point and your plans for the future.  You should also be able to show copies of all notes, sources, and drafts that you have accumulated so far (because I may ask you at the conference to show me a particular source that you’ve mentioned or a section of the draft of your paper that we’re discussing).  I will not, however, read the entire draft of your paper and critique it for you.  I want you to become more self-reflective and self-sufficient when it comes to your own writing, and so, I want you to identify the weaknesses in your paper on your own (and ask me about them) rather than have me read your entire draft and identify the weaknesses for you.  The due date for the topic paragraph and the dates for the conferences are noted in the course schedule below.

Toward the end of the semester, you will give a brief presentation (5-10 minutes) to class about your topic.  These presentations are intended to be relatively relaxed and informal but are good practice for you and should be taken seriously.  In your presentation, you should describe your topic for your classmates and give at least one concrete example of what you plan to talk about in your paper, pointing to (and reading out loud) a relevant passage.  You should not read from notes during the presentation but rather talk to us casually about your paper.

If you fail to submit your topic paragraph, miss a conference, or skip your presentation of your topic to class, your seminar paper’s grade may suffer.

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

Date	Assignment
M Feb 1	Introductions
R Feb 4	Gary Alan Fine, “Naturework and the Taming of the Wild” (under “Files” in Canvas) and The Fabliaux #3 and 15
M Feb 8	Donna Haraway, The Haraway Reader, pp. 7-45 (under “Files” in Canvas), and The Fabliaux #27
R Feb 11	JOINT MEETING WITH SOC 345 (REMOTE ONLY) Be ready to tell the SOC 345 students about what we’ve been learning and discussing in our class (about Fine, Haraway, and the fabliaux). We’ll also be doing a pre-test and brainstorming areas to research for the interviews and web pages of the collaborative project.
M Feb 15	The Fabliaux #6, #11, #19, #24, #58
R Feb 18	The Fabliaux #5, #28, #34, #36, #53
M Feb 22	The Miller’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale (both in The Canterbury Tales)
R Feb 25	The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle and Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle (both in Sir Gawain)
M Mar 1	Sheryl Forste-Grupp, “A Woman Circumvents the Laws of Primogeniture in The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell,” Studies in Philology 99 (2002), 105-122 and 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 (both available under “Files” in Canvas)
R Mar 4	Kenneth A. Gould, “Technological Change and the Environment” (available under “Files” in Canvas) JOINT MEETING WITH SOC 345 (REMOTE ONLY) Be ready in your groups to share the background research that your group has done (5-minute limit). We’ll also be finalizing interview questions for the collaborative project in class.
M Mar 8	Sean Pollack, “Border States:  Parody, Sovereignty, and Hybrid Identity in The Carl of Carlisle,” Arthuriana 19 (2009), 10-26 and Joseph Taylor, “Arthurian Biopolitics:  Sovereignty and Ecology in Sir Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle,” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 59 (2017), 182-208 (both available under “Files” in Canvas)
R Mar 11	Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fitts 1 and 2
M Mar 15	Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fitts 3 and 4
R Mar 18	NO CLASS RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT DUE in Canvas by midnight
M Mar 22	The Awntyrs off Arthur (in Sir Gawain) and Sir Orfeo (available free online at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/laskaya-and-salisbury-middle-english-breton-lays-sir-orfeo)
R Mar 25	Wife of Bath’s Tale (in The Canterbury Tales)
M Mar 29	RECHARGE WEEK (no assignment, but we WILL have class)
R Apr 1	RECHARGE WEEK JOINT MEETING WITH SOC 345 (REMOTE ONLY) no assignment – we’ll be doing a collaboration exercise and a post-test in class
M Apr 5	The Romance of the Rose, Chapters 1-3
R Apr 8	Pearl (available free online at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/stanbury-pearl)
M Apr 12	The Book of the Duchess (in Dream Visions and Other Poems)
R Apr 15	The Parliament of Fowls (in Dream Visions and Other Poems) TOPIC PARAGRAPH for SEMINAR PAPER DUE via email by midnight first draft of web profile of a certified gardener DUE in Canvas under “Assignments” for the SOC 345 and LIT 499 collaborative project course
M Apr 19	NO CLASS (CONFERENCES)
R Apr 22	JOINT MEETING WITH SOC 345 (REMOTE ONLY) 5-minute presentations in class of collaborative projects second draft of web profile of a certified gardener DUE in Canvas under “Assignments” for the SOC 345 and LIT 499 collaborative project course
M Apr 26	NO CLASS COMPREHENSIVE EXAM DUE in Canvas by midnight
R Apr 29	No assignment (but we WILL have class to talk about seminar papers) content for your individual web page for the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project website DUE in Canvas by midnight
M May 3	NO CLASS (CONFERENCES) final draft of web profile for the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project website DUE in Canvas (under “Assignments” for the SOC 345 and LIT 499 collaborative project course)
R May 6	ORAL PRESENTATIONS on seminar papers
T May 18	SEMINAR PAPER DUE in Canvas by midnight