Exploring Middle English Romance
Topic outline
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OBJECTIVES
"Romance" is a genre that, in popular understanding, provides an expression of the dominant secular social and cultural institutions of the High Middle Ages: the ethos of a warrior class bound by imperatives of chivalric conduct, the concept of "courtly" love and courtoisie in general. This is our modern horizon of expectations for the "romance" genre. But what was the horizon of expectations for the medieval readership? How it evolved? We will explore these questions, probing into the complex origins of "romance" and examining a range of texts, from the early birds through the classics of the genre to late reflections. On the way, we will see how the idea of "romance" becomes solidified enough to work as a template and a subtext for other narrative types: hagiography, history etc., as well as providing a firm and fruitful ground for parodies and ironic treatments of various kinds. Inevitably, we will also touch on the issues of the social horizons of the genre as well as those of gender.PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME
1) Introduction: themes, approaches, procedure
2) thematic characteristics of romance; romance in English
- Ywain and Gawain / Chrétien de Troyes: Yvain (selection)
- Sir Perceval of Galles
3) pre- to post-romance: evolution of the genre and late reflections
- Old English Apollonius of Tyre (selection)
- John Gower: eighth book of Confessio Amantis (selection)
- William Shakespeare: Pericles
4) romance and hagiography
- The Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Juliene (selection)
5) romance and history
- the story of Havelok in Geoffrey Gaimar: L´Estoire des Engleis (in English)
6) subversions of romance
- Geoffrey Chaucer: "The Merchant's Tale", The Canterbury Tales
7) ConclusionsMATERIAL
Middle English texts listed in the programme will be provided in the original and in Modern English translation. A range of secondary texts, covering the larger issues connected with romance, will be made available in the Moodle.Secondary literature:
- Derek Pearsall, "The Romancing of the Arthurian Story: Chretien de Troyes" in Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction, Wiley-Blackwell 2003, 20-39 (selection)
- John Finlayson, "Definitions of Middle English Romance", The Chaucer Review 15.1 (1980) 44-62, 15.2 (1980) 168-181 (selection)
- Simon Gaunt, "Romance and Other Genres" in Roberta L. Krueger, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance, CUP 2000, 45-59
- John Stevens, "The Images of Romance" in Medieval Romance: Themes and Approaches, Hutchinson 1973, 142-167 (selection)
- Felicity Riddy, "Middle English Romance: Family, Marriage, Intimacy" in Roberta L. Krueger, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance, CUP 2000, 235-252
- Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, "Virgin Passions: Romance, Raptus, Ritual" in Saints' Lives and Women's Literary Culture, 1150-1300: Virginity and its Authorizations, OUP 2001, 92-122 (selection)
- Helen Cooper, "When Romance Comes True" in Neil Cartlidge, ed., Boundaries in Medieval Romance, Boydell & Brewer 2008, 13-28
- Lee Patterson, "Chaucerian Commerce: Bourgeois Ideology and Poetic Exchange in the Merchant’s and Shipman’s Tales" in Chaucer and the Subject of History, University of Wisconsin Press 1991, 322-349 (selection)
PROCEDURE AND ASSESSMENT
Students are expected to give one presentation of 10-15 minutes (ideally complemented with a 1 page handout summarizing the main points) and submit a paper of 1,000 words for a credit. An essay of 5,000 words should be submitted as a graded paper. Active participation is of the essence.The seminar will combine Moodle forum with class sessions.
The forum is designed to serve as a preparation for the class discussion. Students will take turns introducing the respective texts to their colleagues through a brief personalized summary – describing the interpretative problems they have encountered in reading. There will also be questions for discussion posted in the forum, which the students should consider and respond to briefly (picking one problem and commenting on it in the space of 1-2 sentences). Finally, students are encouraged to add their own questions to the forum.
The class session will expand on this initial embryonic debate, allowing all participants to interrogate, compare and combine their individual insights and conclusions.
Further details will be discussed during the first introductory session. -
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By many scholars Chrétien is recognized as the inventor of Arthurian romance and Yvain is in many ways typical of his corpus. Some 150 years later Yvain was rendered into Middle English as Iwaine and Gawaine.
We will use a selection of corresponding passages from the French and the Middle English version to explore the core concerns of romance in general, as well as the differences in approach between Chrétien and his English "translator" (to a large extent representative of the distinction between "classical" French and English romance in general). The selected passages comprise about a quarter of the entire text.- I suggest you start with the plot summary to form a general idea of "what goes on and what's at stake" in the tale as a whole.
- for the forum: I'd like to ask you to read the first part of the English material - the build-up towards the actual Yvain story.
You can take this as an account of a "generic knightly adventure", a foil to what happens later. Try to list your general impressions as regards dominant themes, motifs, the ways the events are presented... Pick one feature you find typical and one that you found surprising (if any) for the forum, keep track of the rest for the class session. - combined: I'd like to ask you to compare the passages highlighted in blue in the English material with the corresponding passages in Chrétien.
I give you two versions of translation, poetic and prosaic, to cater for diverse tastes ;-)
session only:
1) the first, introductory passage - on Arthur, his knights, his time etc.: do the two versions emphasise the same things? If not, what's the respective emphasis in each?
forum and session:
2) the central passage - Yvain coming to terms with Alundine;
I suppose we will get here in the realm of value judgment: in your reading, is what the English version performs a streamlining or a reduction? Be prepared to discuss the reasons for your verdict (session).
How do the two versions (French/English) read? Try to describe what you value and/or dislike about either. Considering their differences, what effect or goal are they, in your opinion, respectively after? Pick one feature for the forum, keep track of the rest for the class session.
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Here you will gain a general idea of the plot of the romance. The passages highlighted in blue are those presented in full in the files to be discussed in detail.
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selected passages in Middle English, with glosses and prosaic Modern English translation
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poetic translation of the corresponding passages from Chrétien's romance
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prosaic translation of the corresponding passages from Chrétien's romance
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The expanded material provides us with the opportunity to further explore, confirm or attune our perceptions of the text which we formed on the basis of the first reading.
To give you a better idea of the "redemptive part" of Ywain's story, I supply it in full in modern English prosaic translation (also because the summary is very selective here).
Selected passages are given in the original with notes and translation, together with parallel passages from Chrétien's source in poetic and prosaic translationforum:
Choose one incident/passage that you find especially illustrative of the differences in approach between Chrétien and the Middle English adaptation and comment on it briefly.
session:
I would like to ask each of you to consider how the latter part of the romance stands in relation to the issues we debated last week - developments in Ywain's motivation (we mentioned three kinds in total - purely individual with Colgrevance, homosocial and heterosexual; additionally, we could speak of cohesive/divisive tendencies within these categories, though we didn't: revenge for a friend, rivalry with a peer, service to ladies, love - how do they stand in this respect?). Try to argue your stance with one example from the story. -
poetic translation of the corresponding passages from Chrétien's romance
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prosaic translation of the corresponding passages from Chrétien's romance
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I'll devote one more forum to our first text.
I promised we'd be wrapping up the discussion with looking at the differences in the telling of the French and the English version respectively and for that I'll follow the hints raised by your observations in the previous forum.
However, in the session I'd also like to return, in a more comprehensive fashion, to the idea of romance as in a sense an exemplary narrative:
Please consider the following sequence: the concerns raised in the introduction; the presentation of Ywain's failure (what precisely is it?); the presentation of Ywain's "penance" or rehabilitation; the duel between Ywain and Gawain. Does that all add up to a specific "lesson" for you? What would it be?forum: what is the role assigned to Gawain?
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This is a specimen of a so-called tail-rhyme romance - the form Chaucer was parodying in "The Tale of Sir Thopaz" (which, by the way, makes reference to Perceval).
This time our focus will shift more towards the "idea of romance" - because, in what could be seen as a very special sense, Perceval has it all (and not quite): becoming a knight, spectacular adventures, giants, Saracens, magic rings...
suggestions for session discussion:
1) look at Perceval in comparison to Ywaine and Gawaine: what is missing, what is added...
2) our investigation of specifically English romance will continue with a brief comparison of the English text with Chrétien's romance. The synopsis should give you a general idea of the concerns and issues which Chrétien pursues and allow you to see what the English poem does with the story - in what direction it moves away from Chrétien.
3) finally, I'd like to ask you to look at the FORM of the English romance: note the style, the narratorial comments etc.forum:
Please look at lines 69-728 or 834-1504 of Burton Raffel's translation (depending on your choice) and compare with corresponding passages from the English poem.
Try to list your impressions concerning the way Perceval is characterized in the two versions and/or his character development, and what this may tell you about the core concerns of either text.
In addition, I'd like to ask you to suggest one issue/motif/theme you'd like to discuss in the session as part of the comparative analysis.
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The first part of our session will be devoted to a debate on the English Perceval.
I suggested we should discuss our perceptions concerning the general character of the refashioning of Chrétien's story, with three alternatives proposed:
- does it appear to be a consistent and meaningful reworking with its own agenda (if so, what would this be?)?
- or a (reductive) rewriting driven by the simple need to achieve plot closure?
- or a rewriting for parodic purposes?
When thinking about this issue, consider
- characterization (what you noted in the last forum);
- plot modifications;
- use of generic conventions;
- humour.
While we'll try to cover all this in the session, together with the themes you suggested in last week's forum,
in this forum I'd like to ask you to note your perceptions of humour/comedy in the narrative. Don't try to be comprehensive, note your first/strongest impression(s).
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In this block of sessions we will explore a new romance mode - the type of narrative taken over from late Greek novel. This will lead to a new exploration of the constituent features of romance.
We will also see how the narrative is retold before, in and after the period in which the chivalric romance, explored so far, got constituted, and how the idea of "what is romance" evolves in time.The first session will be devoted to a text that has been repeatedly labelled as the first romance in English, translated from a Latin original way before the concepts of chivalry and courtoisie started to consolidate: the Old English Apollonius of Tyre.
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I'd like to ask you to have a look at the Latin version of the story alongside the Old English one, if only to supply the part of the plot that hasn't been preserved in the latter.
forum: Can you see any points of contact in terms of thematic concerns, plot patterns etc. between Apollonius and the texts we have read so far? Is there a way they could be read as a similar type of a story, not to say genre? Pick just one aspect for commentary in the forum.
session: We will compare our findings in the above matters and continue with noting the major differences.
Overall, the Old English version is an almost literal translation of the Latin - unlike the versions by Gower or Shakespeare.
Yet, it does depart from its source in a handful of significant instances.
In preparation for a comparative inquiry into what happens with the story in the changing cultural environment, I'd like to ask you to mentally note these down and try to think what could have motivated the changes. -
You may wish to compare this narrative, a very popular one in the High Middle Ages, with Apollonius as regards leading concerns, themes etc.
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forum:
• I have decided to give Štěpán the opportunity to address you with a message concerning the University students' strike for the climate, planned for next week, through this forum.
• I would like to ask you to compare the selected passages from Gower's version of the Apollonius tale with their counterpart in the Latin Historia Apollonii and see how they are transformed.
Focus on what I would call "patterning for a specific message">
I'd like to ask you to look at how Gower organizes his account, through recurrent motifs, highlighted themes and narratorial comment, to endow it with specific (moral?) significance.
In the next step we will discuss how it relates to the Confessio Amantis framework.session:
Focus on what I would call "cultural translation" >
I have asked you to take note of the admittedly marginal changes the Old English translator makes in his rendering of the Latin narrative. Gower adapts the story in a much more radical fashion.
I'd like to ask you to note such instances, whether they concern the representation of specific incidents, the characterization of the protagonist(s) or the portrayal of the social context.
Look for points of contact with the texts we have read previously (= the chivalric romance).
Don't try to cover everything: choose what you consider most important / conspicuous / of special interest to you and comment on that. -
For the purposes of the forum, I would like to ask you just for brief initial impressions concerning the combination of the "commentary on the state of the world" in the Prologue and the traditional dream vision frame opening. How do they fit together?
In the session, we will start with a discussion of Gower's "cultural" adaptation of the original tale. We have noted the aspects in which the Latin narrative resonates with some dominant plot patterns of romance, as well as those that make it potentially unpromising as "romance material". Does Gower make any steps towards a "romancing" of his material (expand on the observations you have made on the previous "assignment")?
Next, we will connect our observations on Gower's reshaping of the tale for a specific message with the framework in which he places the tale. -
I don't provide a text this time - you can use a printed critical edition of the play available from the library or the following online edition, the only one I was able to locate containing textual notes and commentary:
https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Per_M/complete/index.html. The notes open on double-click.
Since the text of the play is badly preserved, with a number of inconsistencies and problematic readings, such apparatus is absolutely necessary to make sense of the text.I'd like to ask you to skim through the whole play to see how the story is reorganized. With Gower making an appearance as the chorus, the derivation of the plot (and, to an extent, of its meaning) from his version of the tale is beyond doubt; yet the play introduces further modifications.
forum: look at how the tale is organized through recurrent motifs, highlighted themes and narratorial comment by Gower as chorus, and to what effect? Would you say that the chorus Gower steers the story similarly to the way it is managed in Confessio Amantis? Do you see this "steering" as in keeping / in tension with what the plot shows?
session: We will look in greater detail at the following passages: I.i-ii; II. - entire; III. prologue, i; and V. - entire; i.e. more or less the dramatic rendering of incidents selected for the previous reading (Gower).
They should provide sufficient ground for exploring the thematic structuring of the tale as suggested above, plus for the exploration of the possible motivations for and effects of the modifications in the plot and characterization which the play introduces. Beyond that, we will discuss your perceptions of the most radical "cultural relocation" (= romancing?) of the tale so far: how does it fit and what does it do in the play as a whole?
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The Liflade and te Passiun of Seinte Juliene is one of the three lives of Virgin Martyr saints (the other two being St Katherine of Alexandria and St Margaret) included in a collection of texts relating the virtues and advantages of virginity as a "career option" for women (the so-called Katherine Group). Scholars have associated the collection with other manuscripts and works concerned with female spirituality in general, and anachoritic life in particular - the so-called Wooing Group and most famous of them all, the Ancrene Wisse (Guide for Anchoresses). The manuscript dates to the first quarter of the 13th century, the texts were probably composed around the year 1200 in the area of the Welsh-English border.
The individual texts postulate a range of reception contexts but, as the Ancrene Wisse, they seem to be primarily addressed to women of some social standing, contemplating a religious career. Such readers might well read texts in English and French but not in Latin.
As you will note, the text develops the Old English alliterative tradition, looking back to earlier native models; at the same time, it works with images of love from the courtly lyric and romance tradition well before the first attested specimens of those genres in English.
forum: I'd like to ask you to compare the Liflade version of the narrative of Juliana's life and martyrdom with the Latin source and try to describe the additions and modifications that it introduces, and how they change your perception of the issues foregrounded in each of the two texts.
session: If, as seems likely, the Life engages in a dialogue with romance narrative patterns and motifs, to what end(s) does it use them? Is it more like a general "reshaping" or a strategic application in specific key situations?
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The various versions of and references to the Havelok story form a fascinating conglomerate. The earliest account is found in Gaimar's L'estoire des Engleis, our core text and the first history to be written in Anglo-Norman verse (around 1140, the verse form being that of the octosyllabic couplet, which became the "default" form of French romance). There it opens the second part of the Estoire, the only extant today, focused on the history of Anglo-Saxon and Norman England. The first part, focused on history of the Britons, had been pushed into obscurity by Wace's Roman de Brut.
Subsequently, we find the story included in several chronicles and elaborated in an Anglo-Norman and a Middle English romance version (all represented in the additional materials). In addition, there is the local Grimsby and Lincoln tradition. Though the basic plot remains the same in all versions (a pair of dispossessed heirs eventually coming into their own), the individual versions differ in a number of details as well as in the names of most of the characters.-
forum: I'd like to ask you to compare the versions and see how the narrative is reorganized in the historical and the romance context respectively; where the emphasis is placed, how the sujet changes.
session: we will talk further about the uses of romance narrative / motivic patterns in historical writing.
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The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's final unfinished work, is a creatively inflected compendium of contemporary genres set in the framework of a tale-telling game. The telling of an individual story relates in a complex way to the character of its narrator: the relation can be smooth ('The Knight's Tale') or tensioned ('The Prioress' Tale') and the matter is further complicated by moments in which Chaucer the narrator seems to take over from the narrator proper, or rather, seems to lend that narrator his "literary expertise" - referencing other texts - and his often ironic voice.
'The Merchant's Tale' can serve as an example of such complex telling. Part of the so-called 'marriage group', it ostensibly reflects, in its disillusioned perspective, the Merchant's own negative marital experience. At the same time, there are many 'generic' voices in the tale: romance, liturgy, Ovidian allusions, fabliau.
forum:
I suggest you look at and try to analyse the interplay of romance (here specifically the 'courtly love' variety) and fabliau elements in the tale and comment on the result. Focus on the plot and the characterization.
session:
We will expand on the forum debate with a discussion of the style(s) and register(s) used in the telling of the tale.
We will discuss what the specific configuration of generic and stylistic elements says about the narrator's attitude to his subject-matter and the discourses he employs. Do you think the tale offers a critique of romance - or not?
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