Professor L. Amtower
Arts and Letters 259
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-3 (by appointment)

Comparative Literature 512:
Medieval Madness

Books in the Bookstore:

Augustine, Confessions (Penguin) 
Njal's Saga (Penguin) 
Jesse L. Byock, The Saga of the Volsungs (UC Press)
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (penguin) 
Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances (Everyman) 
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the Duke of True Lovers (Persea) 

Coursepack from Cal Copies

Course Requirements:

I. Pop quizzes, graded pass/no pass (15%)
II. Library Assignments (10% each)
III. In-class Midterm exam, plus take-home essay (25%)
IV. In-class Final exam, plus take-home essay (25%)
V. Attendance and active participation in all class meetings (15%)

Quizzes:

Sporadic quizzing throughout the semester will be done to ensure that you’ve done all the reading before you come into class. Some of these will be short-answer reading quizzes; some will be essay format, asking you to respond to critical issues of the text. You need 60% or better to pass the quiz.

Library Assignments:

Two class days have been set aside for you to do guided library research on specific topics relevant to that day’s assigned reading. I will be furloughed both days and will not be on campus. You can find these assignments on Blackboard; they will be scheduled to appear a week before they are due.

Midterm and Final:

The Midterm and Final Exams will be comprised of two parts: an in-class multiple choice exam testing reading materials and history, and a take-home essay on the literature. Please bring “form 882-E” scantrons (blue-green) to class on days of assigned exams. You will then have one week to complete the essay portion of the exam. Questions will range from the historical to the literary; you will be expected to know titles, authors, and (approximate) dates of composition, as well as main characters, themes, major issues and concerns. You may also be asked to identify major passages and to comment upon them. Exams may not be made up, unless advance notice and an acceptable, documented excuse are provided.

Participation and Attendance:

Much of the most valuable work of a literature course is accomplished in the classroom. For that reason attendance and participation in all class discussion are mandatory. In addition to completion of the work above, students expecting an “A” in the class may have no more than two absences during the semester; students expecting a “B” may miss no more than 3-4 classes maximum. More than six absences from the class will result in failure of the course. The following behaviors constitute non-participation and will be counted as such: leaving class early or arriving late, getting up and wandering in and out of the classroom, texting during classroom time, or doing anything else that distracts from the work at hand.

Please note that there is no such thing as an excused absence. If you’re not in class, you’re not here doing the work. Those absences granted in the syllabus are for emergencies only; please do not squander them.

Policies and Procedures:

Classroom etiquette:

• Turn off your cell phones during class time. Playing with your phone in any capacity during class time will result in a lowered participation grade. Please be aware that I DO NOTICE texting, internet browsing, and everything else. I find this behavior very distracting when I’m trying to concentrate on teaching the class; therefore, your behavior affects everyone.
• Laptops are allowed in the back row of the classroom only in order to minimize the distraction to me and to others.

Blackboard: Any documents not found in the textbooks will be posted on Blackboard. Please check the site regularly to get specific assignments, study guides, or any other updates that might be available. You can also keep track of your grades there.

Exams: All students will be expected to take exams on the dates noted in the schedule. Special testing accommodations will be made only for students with disabilities--NO EXCEPTIONS. In such cases it is the student’s responsibility to make all arrangements well in advance of the deadline. Exams may not be taken on dates other than those assigned except in case of medical or family emergency (documentation required—please note that a form letter from Student Health Services is not sufficient). In such cases an alternate exam may be issued to minimize opportunities for cheating. Please check the schedule NOW to make sure you will not have any conflicts. Otherwise you will have to find another course to satisfy your requirements.

Late policy: Assignments are penalized by ½ grade per day. After one week papers and/or assignments automatically fail.

Cheating/Plagiarism: The punishment for cheating or plagiarism in this class is immediate failure of the course and disciplinary action by the Office of Judicial Affairs. All papers will be checked by SafeAssigns on Blackboard. Any uncited material lifted from books, online sources, or other students, no matter how brief, constitutes plagiarism and will be treated accordingly. Please note that courses for which you have been documented for cheating may not be taken for Course Forgiveness.

What counts as plagiarism? Any time you use another person’s words or ideas and pass them off as your own. If you are going to paraphrase another person’s work, you must change every major word—every adjective, noun, and verb must be different. If you use ANY word from the original, it must be quoted. This includes words from websites and other students’ papers as well as words from published articles or books.

Schedule:

Week 1 (Aug 31):
M: Introduction
W: Late Antiquity. Reading: “Augustine: A Biography” (coursepack) and Augustine: Confessions, Books I-VI

Week 2: (Sept. 7)
M: HOLIDAY
W: Augustine: Confessions, Books VI-X

Week 3: (Sept. 14)
M: Northern Europe and the Dark Ages. Volsung’s Saga: Introduction and chs. 1-29
W: Volsung’s Saga: chs. 30-end

Week 4: (Sept.21)
M: Njal’s Saga: Introduction and chs. 1-92
W: Njal’s Saga: chs. 93-end

Week 5: (Sept. 28)
M: Furlough Day. Reading: Selections from A Thousand and One Arabian Nights (coursepack). Library Project #1 on Blackboard; due by 5 pm
W: Arabian Nights

Week 6 (Oct. 5):
M: “Abelard” (in coursepack) and “History of My Calamities,” from Abelard and Heloise
W. The Twelfth-Century Renaissance. Reading: The Art of Courtly Love (coursepack); Marie de France, “Equitan” (coursepack)

Week 7 (Oct. 12):
M: Romance of the Rose selections; reply from Christine de Pizan; “Laustic,” by Marie de France (all in coursepack)
W: MIDTERM

Week 8 (Oct. 19):
M: MIDTERM
W: Chretien de Troyes: “Erec and Enide,” in Arthurian Romances

Week 9 (Oct. 26):
M: “Erec and Enide,” in Arthurian Romances. MIDTERM ESSAY DUE in class.
W: Chretien de Troyes: “Yvain,” in Arthurian Romances

Week 10 (Nov. 2):
M: “Yvain,” in Arthurian Romances
W: Chretien de Troyes: “Lancelot,” in Arthurian Romances

Week 11 (Nov. 9):
M: “Lancelot” cont
W: HOLIDAY

Week 12 (Nov. 16):
M: The Waning of the Middle Ages. Reading: Christine de Pizan: Book of the Duke of True Lovers
W: Book of the Duke of True Lovers

Week 13 (Nov. 23):
M: Reading: Boccaccio: Decameron Prologue and Introduction (coursepack).
W: Furlough Day.

Week 14 (Nov. 30):
M: Boccaccio: Decameron 1.1 and 1.2 (coursepack).
W: Boccaccio: Decameron 3.1 and 3.10 (coursepack).

Week 15 (Dec. 7):
M: Boccaccio: Decameron 4.5 (coursepack).
W: Final Exam essay question distributed; due on day of final exam

Final Exam: Wednesday, Dec 16, 1-3 pm