Admission requirements
None.
Description
Too little do we realize when we are reading medieval texts that they have been preserved in manuscripts. In this course we shall follow the process from handwritten text to printed edition. First we shall study a number of Middle English texts in various dialects, parts of which we shall read in the original from facsimiles of the manuscript. Such an approach gives us particular insight into the diversity of Middle English dialects and scripts. In the second half of the course we shall discuss, with the help of manuscript texts that have not yet been published, the most important steps that have to be taken in order to arrive at a readable edition, such as: the transcription (paleography); critical or diplomatic edition; glossary; explanatory commentary. In this course the digitalization of the discipline will receive ample attention.
Course objectives
This course builds on experience acquired as part of a BA curriculum in Old and Middle English language, literature and culture. The students will extend their skills and insights into philology, including paleography, and learn to apply them to a variety of texts, both edited and in manuscript. At the end of the course, the students will be able to carry out empirical work by means of manuscript facsimiles, electronic corpora, read and interpret relevant literature independently, and present their research results in the form of an edition of an unpublished Middle English text, both orally and in written form. Following the completion of the course, students will be well equipped to write their MA thesis on a topic in English philology.
Timetable
The timetable will be available by June 1st at www.hum.leidenuniv.nl/engels.
Mode of instruction
Two-hour seminar per week, including hands-on sessions in the University Library.
Assessment method
Presentation and participation (20%), final essay (80%).
Blackboard
This course is supported by Blackboard.
Reading list
J. Burrow and G. Turville-Petre, A Book of Middle English, third edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004) ISBN: 1405117095.
V. McCarren and D. Moffat, eds., A Guide to Editing Middle English (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1998) ISBN 047210604-X
Christopher de Hamel, Scribes and Illuminators (London: British Museum, 1992) ISBN 0-7141-2049-9
Registration
Students should register through uSis.
Contact information
Departmental Office English Language and Culture, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; mail: english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Coordinator of Studies Master: Ms. K. van der Zeeuw-Filemon, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 103C.
Remarks
No remarks.