EN33120 - WOMEN WRITING+RELIGION-LATER MIDDLE AGES+EARLY RENAISSANCE

Module Identifier	EN33120
Module Title	WOMEN WRITING+RELIGION-LATER MIDDLE AGES+EARLY RENAISSANCE
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr Diane Watt
Semester	Intended for use in future years
Next year offered	N/A
Next semester offered	N/A
Course delivery	Seminars / Tutorials	20 Hours 10 x 2 hrs
Assessment	Essay	2 essays (2,500 words each)	100%
	Resit assessment	Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements.

Outline syllabus

Seminars:

Women in the Middle Ages: representations of Eve and the Virgin Mary in literature and visual art; religious and scientific notions of woman; the social and historical background
Exemplary Lives 1: Seinte Margarete
Examplary Lives 2: The Life of Christina of Markyate
Enclosed Women 1: Ancrene Wisse parts 7 and 8; Hali Mei?had
Enclosed Women 2: Julian of Norwich, The Divine Revelation
Women in Society: The Book of Margery Kempe; the Paston letters
Women's Visions 1 and 2: The Life of Christina of Markyate; Julian of Norwich, The Divine Revelation; The Book of Margery Kempe, 'A Revelation Showed to a Holy Woman'.
Women's Visions 3 and 4: Continental Woman Visionaries

Set Texts:
Alexandra Barratt (ed): Women's Writing in Middle English (London, 1992)
Marion Glancoe (ed.), Julian of Norwich: A Revelation of Love (Exeter, 1986)
C H Talbot (edited and translated), The Life of Christina of Markyate (Toronto, 19980
B. A. Windeatt (translated), The Book of Margery Kempe (Harmondsworth, 1985)

Brief description

The aim of this module is not only to introduce a selection of early women's literature, but also to examine the often problematic circumstances of its production. A whole spectrum of writing will be considered, from prayers to records of heresy trials.
This module on women, writing and religion in the Middle Ages will begin by examining both the antifeminist tradition and the historical reality of woman's position within medieval society. It will then consider a wide range of Middle English texts, including guides for holy women, saints' lives, visionary writings, personal letters and devotional pieces by and for women. Topics covered will include women and martyrdom, women's masochism, virginity and sexuality, holy anorexia, and the feminization of God. Most of these works are easily accessible in the set texts. The module will be taught in two hour weekly seminars, which will be introduced by seminar papers.