Medievalism: The once and future text

Aims of the course

This course aims to:
1. Introduce you to a wide range of medievalist texts;
2. Encourage you to read closely and think critically about tradition and inheritance;
3. Think about imitation in a number of different artistic forms.

Content

During this course, you will read a wide variety of texts which engage with medieval literature, starting with Chaucer himself in translation, and then ranging from Dryden’s Fables Ancient and Modern (1700) to Zadie Smith’s recent play, The Wife of Willesden (2021). We’ll cover everything from art and architecture to ghost stories, Arthurian legends to satirical prints, as we examine ideas of ‘authenticity’, and explore how the medieval was refashioned and remade by the writers and thinkers who succeeded it. You’ll finish the course with a sense of how medievalism developed and the different forms it took; how it was reflected not just on the page but in gardens, paintings and buildings; how modern writers negotiate with Chaucer to find a voice for traditionally side-lined identities; and the tools to keep exploring the wealth of medieval and medievalist literature which exists! A number of characters will accompany us through the more than six hundred years of literature we address, in particular Chaucer’s much-married Wife of Bath. We’ll use her seemingly unconventional, perhaps even proto-feminist, consideration of female agency as a guide to changing perspectives in the literature we examine: towards Middle English, towards women, towards Chaucer himself, and to the Middle Ages.

Presentation of the course

Classes will have a clear focus and will be friendly and discussion-based; there will be no expectation of any pre-existing familiarity with any or all of these materials beyond the pre-reading. There will be a particular textual or artistic ‘focus’ for each session, which will be indicated in advance.

Class sessions

1. Introductions: The Merchant’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue (in translation); authorities and pear trees

2. Complications: The Retraction to the Canterbury Tales; Excerpts Dryden’s Preface to Fables Ancient and Modern; Chaucer rude in speech and tongue

3. Duplications: Alexander Pope, The Merchant’s Tale, The Wife of Bath; satirical prints

4. Visitations: Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto; the Gothic

5. Fabrications: Selected poems of Thomas Chatterton; forgery and authenticity

6. Crenelations: Strawberry Hill House and Merlin’s Cave; architecture and the ‘spirit of the place’

7. Imitations: Pre-Raphaelite art and the medieval revival

8. Inspirations: Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and the heroic identity

9. Refutations: Patience Agbabi, Telling Tales (‘What do Women Like Bes’’ and ‘That Beatin’ Rhythm’)

10. Transformations: Zadie Smith, The Wife of Willesden

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course are:
1. To give you a chronological overview of a variety of medievalist texts;
2. To give you the tools to talk about medievalism in literature, art, and architecture;
3. To give you the confidence to examine cultural and societal change in these works

Required reading

Peter Ackroyd, The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling (Penguin Classics, 2010)

Patience Agbabi, Telling Tales (Canongate, 2015)

Zadie Smith, The Wife of Willesden (Penguin Books, 2021)

Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (Penguin Classics, 2001)

Typical week: Monday to Friday

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students. 

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.