Geoffrey Chaucer 3301-LB202

The course examines selected works by Geoffrey Chaucer against the background of medieval European literature and culture. The principal goal is the acquisition of interpretative tools and skills necessary for competent reading of Chaucer's texts in the historical context. This apparatus includes, among other things, notions of genre (dream vision, fabliau, exemplum, etc.), versification (e.g. the rhyme royal stanza), literary devices (e.g. allegory, metamorphosis), social concepts (e.g. feudalism), cultural phenomena (chivalry, courtly love, etc.), and typical intellectual pursuits (astronomy, alchemy, etc.). Another aim of the course is to discuss Chaucer's ouevre in terms relevant for humanistic and theoretical discourses of the twenty-first century. Credit is given for the fulfilment of reading requirements, participation in class activities and discussions, an oral presentation, and a final term paper. We begin by looking at Chaucer as a lyric poet, a master of the fixed forms of French courtly verse, like the ballade, and of the artful use of rhyme and stanzaic patterns. We then move to allegorical dream visions - The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, and The Parliament of Fowls. The next topic concerns Chaucer's attempts at creating a collection of tales in The Legend of Good Women and The Canterbury Tales, viewed against the background of medieval (particularly Italian) and ancient (particularly Oriental) story collections. We then analyse Chaucer's art of portrayal in The General Prologue, referring to the medieval theory of humours. The final part of the course deals with Chaucer's narrative art in selected individual tales from the Canterbury collection, particularly the epic romance of The Knight's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale as a medieval short story, and a variety of comic tales. Topics of interest include Chaucer's attitude to women, romantic love, homosexuality, Islam, Jews, classical antiquity, alchemy, as well as Boethian themes in Chaucer's works.