2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3223 Gender, Body, Self and God: Late-Medieval Identitites

20 creditsClass Size: 20

School of English

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2008/09

Pre-requisite qualifications

Grade B at 'A' Level in English Language or Literature or equivalent or an achieved mark of 56 or above in a Level 1 module in English.

Please note: This module is restricted to Level 2 and 3 students.

This module is mutually exclusive with

ENGL32470

Gender Issues in Medieval English Literature

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

'Eat on this side, it is very well cooked!' What are we to make of St Lawrence's cheerful banter with his torturers as they grill him over an open fire? What do medieval bodies, vowed to chastity, and dedicated to God, have to say to modern bodies? How do body and soul relate in Saint's Life (one of the most popular forms of the Middle Ages), and how, in turn, do holy lives relate to autobiography? In medieval genres in which the body is subject to intense scrutiny, how is gender significant?This module begins by investigating medieval and modern theories about the body and gender identity, and goes on to compare some male- and female-authored twelfth- and thirteenth-century writings for religious women. We read two different secular accounts of spiritual identity: Henry, Duke of Lancaster's 1354 treatise startlingly imagines his sinful self as a wounded, putrefying body, while the fifteenth-century Margery Kempe forcefully asserts her own ideal of the devotional life in the Book she dictates. We end by considering how Chaucer complicates his literary inheritance. Throughout, we shall assess how medieval preoccupations offer challenges to, and continuities with, modern ideas and theories about the body, writing, and identity.

Objectives

By the end of this module, students will have: surveyed a range of literature, spanning three centuries, about lay and institutional religious modes of devotional practice and expression; an appreciation of the complexity of medieval religious experience; considered how one might test modern ideas of selfhood and the body against the evidence medieval texts provide; a sense of the diversities and continuities medieval and modern perceptions of the individual provide; developed an awareness of the importance of gender to genre.

Learning outcomes
Students will have developed:
- the ability to use written and oral communication effectively;
- the capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse;
- the ability to manage quantities of complex information in a structured and systematic way;
- the capacity for independent thought and judgement;
- critical reasoning;
- research skills, including the retrieval of information, the organisation of material and the evaluation of its importance;
- IT skills;
- efficient time management and organisation skills;
- the ability to learn independently.

Skills outcomes
Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
Critical reasoning.
Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
IT skills.
Time management and organisational skills.
Independent learning.

Syllabus

Week 1: Modern and medieval ideas about gender identity; Week 2: Anglo-Norman Saints' Lives (Catherine and Lawrence); Week 3: The Early-Middle-English St Margaret; Week 4: Sawles Warde, Hali Mei?had; Week 5: Ancrene Wisse, I: Week 6: Ancrene Wisse, II: Week 7: Henry, duke of Lancaster's Book of Holy Medicines; Week 8: Margery Kempe, I; Week 9: Margery Kempe, II; Week 10: The Prioress's Tale.

Extra lectures on: retrieving medieval 'theory'; medieval religious institutions; religious life and material culture; religious experience for lay people; genres and genders.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Meetings	5	1.00	5.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			185.00
Total Contact hours			15.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Teaching will be through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) plus up to 5 additional hours (content to be determined by the module tutor). The 5 additional hours may include lectures, plenary sessions, film showings, or the return of unassessed/assessed essays.

Private Study: Reading, seminar preparation and essay writing

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar contribution

1st assessed essay (Week 7)

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1,700 words	33.30
Essay	2,750 words	66.70
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 14/04/2010

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