Comparative Literature 691MA - ST- Idea of Writing/MiddleAges

This course will investigate the concepts of authorship, subject-construction, and reading in medieval literature. In the Middle Ages, the word "author" meant something quite different from what we understand it to mean today, and this distinct notion of authorship - associated with accepted authority rather than originality and with citational interrelationships between texts - had implications for medieval explorations of what it meant to write. Seminar readings will draw from medieval visionary and dream literature, vernacular and Latin prologues, and romance, as well as contemporary critical scholarship. All texts will be available in translation, but students will be expected to read in the original languages when possible.