Focusing on works by Chaucer, Langland and the Gawain-poet, this module will challenge the myth that medieval literature was much more straightforward than modern literature by looking at the way in which society, orthodoxy, gender and sexuality are constructed within the set texts and by considering the extent to which certain of these texts are socially subversive, sexually transgressive or potentially heretical.

This module complements the core module on Medieval and Renaissance Writing but will also be accessible to anyone interested in reading medieval texts and in locating the literature of the time in its social and historical context. It will also introduce a range of approaches to Medieval English poetry from more traditional criticism to Marxist, deconstructionist, feminist and postmodern readings. Such readings illustrate that medieval literature remains of relevance in the 21st century.

_SEMINAR PROGRAMME

_PART ONE: SOCIETY

_Seminar 1: Society in Transition

• The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

_Seminars 2 & 3: Society in Decline

• The Prologue, and Passus i-vii, xviii and xx of Langland's Piers Plowman

_PART TWO: MARGINALITY AND PERSECUTION

_Seminars 4 & 5: Anti-semitism and Conflicts of Faith

• The Prioress's Tale; and Patience

_Seminars 6 & 7: Sodomy and Crises of Faith

• The Pardoner's Tale; and Purity

_PART THREE: SOCIAL SUBVERSION AND THE LIMITS OF GENDER

_Seminar 8: The Incestuous Family Romance

• The Man of Law's Tale

_Seminar 9: Paying One's Debts

• The Reeve's Tale; and Chaucer's Fabliaux

_Seminar 10: The Limits of Genre

• The Merchant's Tale