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PBDS 787

SEMINAR IN LITERATURE & WRITING

NOTE: This is representative of the syllabi for this course. It is not necessarily the syllabus being used in any one semester.

Semester Emphasis: Romantic Love & Literature: Medieval Sources, Modern Interpretations

INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

This is one of a cluster of three advanced, required courses leading to the culminating Seminar project/thesis in the MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts. Based on the idea that creative writing springs from the literature of the past, the course is designed to ground students' own work in advanced literary studies and research, in original scholarship, and in the application of all these to their own writing.

This syllabus represents one variant of a course whose content (but not its structure) will change as the instructors change. Other versions will be developed and offered as faculty members wish to propose and prepare them. The course title listed in the catalogue will be "Seminar in Literature & Writing," and the subtitle, describing each year's content, will be announced some months before the course is offered. In every version of the course, however, students will take a central theme and look at how it functions across time, within literature, and as part of their own work.

Combining traditional scholarship and creative writing, the course begins with a close study of a seminal literary work or group of works, to be chosen by the instructor. Students explore the nature of these texts per se and how they relate both to current and past literature and to their own work. A final written project integrates original research and the creative interpretation of the ideas developed from reading and discussion.

Many MFA candidates expect to teach,typically English and writing,and this course will help prepare them to conduct both literature and composition classes at the college or advanced secondary level.

OBJECTIVES

This version of the course explores a powerful and pervasive theme in western letters: the nature and expression of romantic love. The aim is to allow students to look at how literature has for more than 1,000 years interpreted and portrayed the ideas formulated in the poetry, narratives, and other texts of the early Middle Ages of western Europe, particularly the letters of Abelard and Heloise and the work of the Goliard and troubadour poets and their contemporaries, near-contemporaries, interpreters, and critics.

REQUIREMENTS & STRUCTURE

The course is divided into two distinct segments. For the first seven weeks, students will read and study the required and supplemental texts. For the second seven weeks, students will work on an individual project.

Part I: Lectures & Readings

Classes will include lectures and discussion as students explore the core material. Throughout these weeks, however, students will also be developing ideas and proposals for a project that will dominate the second half of the semester. At the end of seven weeks, students will turn in a traditional paper on some aspect of the readings and central theme. The paper will also include reasons and motives for proposing an original project that will dominate the second seven weeks of the semester.

Part II: The Individual Projects

These projects must include original research and scholarship, grow out of the central theme and texts, and demonstrate an understanding of how the literature of the past becomes an overt or subtle reference for what follows. But students will have great freedom in choosing the nature and substance of and the readings for this project. The possibilities are infinite and may include "creative" interpretations of their scholarship, in the form, say, of an original story, play, film, group of poems, hypertext document, etc.,something designed to take forward the "publishing arts" aspect of this MFA program. All projects, however, must include a written, scholarly component, and all projects, to repeat, must grow out of original research and scholarship, interpret the theme of the course, and include a coherent set of readings based on some aspect of romantic love and designed to show how our literature has for so long played on and around the ideas therein.

Throughout the second half the semester, students will concentrate on these projects. Some classes will be devoted to one-on-one meetings between students and the instructor. In others, students will discuss the progress of their projects with the full class. In the final class, students will present their projects to the instructor and classmates before turning in the fnal written version of their projects.

REQUIRED TEXTS

The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Trans., Betty Radice)

The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus (Trans., John Jay Parry)

Love in the Western World by Denis de Rougemont

The Mays of Vendatorn by W.S. Merwin

SUPPLEMENTAL, REFERENCE & RECOMMENDED TEXTS

The Wandering Scholars by Helen Waddell

Medieval Latin Lyrics by Helen Waddell

Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouveres (Trans., Frederick Goldin)

From Ritual to Romance by Jessie Weston

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

(Supplemental texts, continued)

Medieval Latin Lyrics and the Rise of European Love-Lyric by Peter Dronke

Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages by Peter Dronke

Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua to

Marguerite Porete by Peter Dronke

Heloise and Abelard by Etienne Gilson

The Lost Love Letters of HÚlo›se and AbÚlard by Constant J. Mews

Fictions of Feminine Desire: Disclosures of Heloise by Peggy Kamuf

Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love by R. Howard

Bloch

The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century by Charles Homer Haskins

The Making of the Middle Ages by R.W. Southern

Medieval Humanism by R.W. Southern

The Language of Sex: Five Voices from Northern France around 1200 by John

W. Baldwin

GRADES

These will be based chiefly on the quality of scholarship and writing as demonstrated in the two required papers. Others factors include the inventiveness of the individual project, the scope and nature of the readings for this project, how enlightening and/or cogent any student's contributions to class discussion may be, and how ambitiously any student goes about his or her work.

PLAGIARISM POLICY STATEMENT

It is illegal and unethical to use someone else's work without properly crediting the source, whether online, print, or other. If you are not sure whether to credit a source, or to quote or paraphrase, or to use original language, please ask me in advance Ü or err on the side of citing the source you are using. If I discover that you've plagiarized material for this class, I will follow the university's policy for violations of academic integrity. (See the UB Student Handbook for this policy.) Under that policy, the consequences of plagiarism can include failing this course and being expelled from the university.




			PBDS 787 SEMINAR IN LITERATURE & WRITING NOTE: This is representative of the syllabi for this course. It is not necessarily the syllabus being used in any one semester. Semester Emphasis: Romantic Love & Literature: Medieval Sources, Modern Interpretations INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW This is one of a cluster of three advanced, required courses leading to the culminating Seminar project/thesis in the MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts. Based on the idea that creative writing springs from the literature of the past, the course is designed to ground students' own work in advanced literary studies and research, in original scholarship, and in the application of all these to their own writing. This syllabus represents one variant of a course whose content (but not its structure) will change as the instructors change. Other versions will be developed and offered as faculty members wish to propose and prepare them. The course title listed in the catalogue will be "Seminar in Literature & Writing," and the subtitle, describing each year's content, will be announced some months before the course is offered. In every version of the course, however, students will take a central theme and look at how it functions across time, within literature, and as part of their own work. Combining traditional scholarship and creative writing, the course begins with a close study of a seminal literary work or group of works, to be chosen by the instructor. Students explore the nature of these texts per se and how they relate both to current and past literature and to their own work. A final written project integrates original research and the creative interpretation of the ideas developed from reading and discussion. Many MFA candidates expect to teach,typically English and writing,and this course will help prepare them to conduct both literature and composition classes at the college or advanced secondary level. OBJECTIVES This version of the course explores a powerful and pervasive theme in western letters: the nature and expression of romantic love. The aim is to allow students to look at how literature has for more than 1,000 years interpreted and portrayed the ideas formulated in the poetry, narratives, and other texts of the early Middle Ages of western Europe, particularly the letters of Abelard and Heloise and the work of the Goliard and troubadour poets and their contemporaries, near-contemporaries, interpreters, and critics. REQUIREMENTS & STRUCTURE The course is divided into two distinct segments. For the first seven weeks, students will read and study the required and supplemental texts. For the second seven weeks, students will work on an individual project. Part I: Lectures & Readings Classes will include lectures and discussion as students explore the core material. Throughout these weeks, however, students will also be developing ideas and proposals for a project that will dominate the second half of the semester. At the end of seven weeks, students will turn in a traditional paper on some aspect of the readings and central theme. The paper will also include reasons and motives for proposing an original project that will dominate the second seven weeks of the semester. Part II: The Individual Projects These projects must include original research and scholarship, grow out of the central theme and texts, and demonstrate an understanding of how the literature of the past becomes an overt or subtle reference for what follows. But students will have great freedom in choosing the nature and substance of and the readings for this project. The possibilities are infinite and may include "creative" interpretations of their scholarship, in the form, say, of an original story, play, film, group of poems, hypertext document, etc.,something designed to take forward the "publishing arts" aspect of this MFA program. All projects, however, must include a written, scholarly component, and all projects, to repeat, must grow out of original research and scholarship, interpret the theme of the course, and include a coherent set of readings based on some aspect of romantic love and designed to show how our literature has for so long played on and around the ideas therein. Throughout the second half the semester, students will concentrate on these projects. Some classes will be devoted to one-on-one meetings between students and the instructor. In others, students will discuss the progress of their projects with the full class. In the final class, students will present their projects to the instructor and classmates before turning in the fnal written version of their projects. REQUIRED TEXTS The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Trans., Betty Radice) The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus (Trans., John Jay Parry) Love in the Western World by Denis de Rougemont The Mays of Vendatorn by W.S. Merwin SUPPLEMENTAL, REFERENCE & RECOMMENDED TEXTS The Wandering Scholars by Helen Waddell Medieval Latin Lyrics by Helen Waddell Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouveres (Trans., Frederick Goldin) From Ritual to Romance by Jessie Weston The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis (Supplemental texts, continued) Medieval Latin Lyrics and the Rise of European Love-Lyric by Peter Dronke Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages by Peter Dronke Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua to Marguerite Porete by Peter Dronke Heloise and Abelard by Etienne Gilson The Lost Love Letters of HÚlo›se and AbÚlard by Constant J. Mews Fictions of Feminine Desire: Disclosures of Heloise by Peggy Kamuf Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love by R. Howard Bloch The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century by Charles Homer Haskins The Making of the Middle Ages by R.W. Southern Medieval Humanism by R.W. Southern The Language of Sex: Five Voices from Northern France around 1200 by John W. Baldwin GRADES These will be based chiefly on the quality of scholarship and writing as demonstrated in the two required papers. Others factors include the inventiveness of the individual project, the scope and nature of the readings for this project, how enlightening and/or cogent any student's contributions to class discussion may be, and how ambitiously any student goes about his or her work. PLAGIARISM POLICY STATEMENT It is illegal and unethical to use someone else's work without properly crediting the source, whether online, print, or other. If you are not sure whether to credit a source, or to quote or paraphrase, or to use original language, please ask me in advance Ü or err on the side of citing the source you are using. If I discover that you've plagiarized material for this class, I will follow the university's policy for violations of academic integrity. (See the UB Student Handbook for this policy.) Under that policy, the consequences of plagiarism can include failing this course and being expelled from the university. home \| bs, corporate communication \| ba, english \| ma, publications design \| mfa, integrated design \| mfa, creative writing & publishing arts \| people \| portfolio \| facilities \| classes \| undergraduate applications \| graduate applications \| contact \| site index \| university of baltimore