| Module Identifier |
EN33120 |
| Module Title |
WOMEN WRITING+RELIGION-LATER MIDDLE AGES+EARLY RENAISSANCE |
| Academic Year |
2003/2004 |
| Co-ordinator |
Professor 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 |
| Assessment Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay: 2 essays (2,500 words each) | 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. | |
|
Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should typically be able to:
- demonstrate an understanding of the culture and history of women at the edn of the Middle Ages in England
- demonstrate an understanding of a range of late medieval texts and/or for women
- locate these texts within the literary, religious, socio-historical and/or cultural contexts in which they were produced and read
- analyse these texts in relation to current critical and theoretical debates
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 autobiographical texts to divine revelations.
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.
Content
Seminars:
1 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
2 Exemplary Lives 1: Seinte Margarete
3 Examplary Lives 2: The Life of Christina of Markyate
4 Enclosed Women 1: Ancrene Wisse parts 7 and 8; Hali Mei?rad
5 Enclosed Women 2: Julian of Norwich, The Divine Revelation
6 Women in Society: The Book of Margery Kempe; the Paston letters
7-8 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'.
9-10 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)
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6