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| Yayoi Kusama at David Zwirner |
Hi folks,
First, thanks to the guest post from Dorothy Kim, whose promotion of medieval twitter left your humble Brooklyn medievalist longing desperately for Chicago. Very much looking forward to after reports from the entire In the Middle Team, all of whom -- except for me! -- were in the thick of everything, if the evidence of Twitter may be believed.
In the meantime, here's the syllabus for the latest version of my medieval animals course (link to pdf here). I've taught courses on this theme two or three times at Brooklyn College, but never at the Grad Center (courses listed here). I've been able to make a lot of changes to the usual run of this: I'm a different scholar now (I think), and my Grad Center students will be, for the most part, PhD students, mostly possessing a base of familiarity with medieval texts and/or critical theory that I can't assume in my Brooklyn College students, regardless of their often very considerable smarts.
Some highlights for what follows:
- I'm taking a page from Cathy Davidson and including two (short) monographs on my syllabus, Cary Wolfe's Before the Law and Eugene Thacker's In the Dust of this Planet
- Using Google Docs, we're going to be keeping a "living bibliography" of additional readings, editable by all my students, and available publicly to the world
- We're going to do the same with seminar minutes. I remember that Caroline Walker Bynum required seminar students to rotate in minutes-keeping duties; we'll do the same, but we'll post the minutes to Google Docs publicly.
- I'm looking forward to returning, at the end, to that workhorse of a medieval text, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and thinking it anew with what we've picked up along the way.
Class starts on January 27th, so there's time for changes. Suggestions encouraged!
Animals
and Ecology: The Middle Ages
ENGL 80700
[cross-listed with MSCP 80500]
CUNY Grad
Center, Room 4433, Mondays 11:45-1:45
Karl Steel
Monday office hour
2:00-3:00 and by appointment
Office Phone: 212-817-8761
Email
(best way to reach me): ksteel@brooklyn.cuny.edu
“For anyone who doubts
that a horse is by its very nature better than wood, and that a human
being is more excellent than a horse, should not even be called a
human being.”
Anselm,
Monologion
Oister:
Listen then, but before we proceed in our discourse, you must promise
me beforehand, that while I open (as you see) to speak, you will take
care that those Roguy confounded Crabs shall not throw a stone
between my two shells, which would hinder me from shutting 'em ever
after.
Giovanni
Gelli, La Circe
translated
by Thom. Brown
“Animals
and Ecology: The Middle Ages” will introduce students to the more
recent strains of critical animal theory and ecocriticism and
consider how this thought might respond to and be transformed by its
encounter with medieval cultures. Critical animal theory exploded in
interest a little more than a decade ago, primarily through the work
of Cary Wolfe, and a critical canon was quickly established,
centering largely on Derrida's The Animal that Therefore I am and
a few other books, such as Giorgio
Agamben's The Open.
With
its bestiaries, its
art that loved to represent
animal/human/vegetable hybrids, its
heraldry, hunting, and
“household pigs,” and
a literature more than happy to include talking animals,
medieval
studies has been particularly
well suited to engage with these
fields. Articles
and, eventually, books began appearing in earnest over the least 7
or 8 years, although earlier
cultural engagements with literal medieval animals date back
at least 20
years ago to Joyce Salisbury's The Beast Within.
We are therefore now
well placed to consider what might be called, clumsily,
the second wave of Medieval Critical Animal/Eco Studies.
We
can readily identify how the dominant medieval intellectual
traditions sought to establish human difference. It's
easy to link Augustine to Aquinas to Descartes as the enemies of all
animalkind. Many other
medieval texts, however,
concentrate not on cognition and the possession
of a soul but on vulnerability,
heterogeneous needs, and
scales of time in which humans appear as just one more comprimised
actor among others. Such texts often acknowledge
the existence of subjectivities completely different from the more
familiar lives, emotions, and needs of humans.
With these texts, we will
work over questions like the following: do
animals have a particular
claim on us, more than, say,
plants? Which
animals and why? How
might swarms
challenge an ethics based on individuals? How
does renewed
interest in nonhuman materialisms compel a rethinking of the
usual arguments of
critical animal studies?
Credit Options:
As with most English
Program courses, you can register for ENGL 80700 for either 2.0
(graded P/F) or 4.0 credits (regular letter grade). If you are
not an English Program student and are registered for 2.0 credits,
confirm that your home program allows this, as some programs require
that every course counting toward your required 60 credits of
coursework receive a letter grade. Students taking the class for 2.0
credits will do all reading, participate in class discussions, do the
in-class, oral presentations, and join others in writing the weekly
summaries of class discussion. Students taking the course for 4.0
credits will do all this and also write a final seminar paper along
with its preparatory assignments.
Students
taking the course for 3.0 credits as MSCP 80500 will do all
assignments for the class, but can write a final paper that is
somewhat shorter (10-15 pages) than that required of students doing
ENGL 80700 for 4.0 credits.
Learning
Objectives:
By the
end of the semester, students will be able to do:
- discuss, write about, and teach a wide range of medieval works;
- analyze a variety of historical and theoretical approaches to nonhuman animals and ecology, and incorporate such approaches into their own critical writing;
- consider how thinking about nonhuman animals and ecology in the contemporary world might be understood in ways both similar to and different from medieval understandings.
TEXTS and READING
You are encouraged to do
some reading before the
class begins. If you are not comfortable with Middle English, try to
get comfortable. Harvard's METRO site is especially useful:
http://metro.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do.
You might also familiarize yourself with some of the basics of
critical animal studies. Read Derrida's “The Animal that Therefore
I am” (available in a volume bearing the same title) and several
chapters in my How to Make a Human:
Animals and Violence in the Middle Ages:
I recommend the Introduction, Chapter 3, and the Epilogue. It's
available as a PDF here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2kogaeb5a0egel5/Steel_2ndproof.pdf.
You might also want to watch this video of
my introduction to Critical Animal Studies:
http://vimeo.com/56740190
We
will also be generating a collaborative bibliography on critical
animal studies, ecotheory, materialism, and, if possible, their
relationship to medieval studies on Wikispaces here. Everyone in the class will be granted permission to edit it, and I
will ask you to join me in regularly adding items.
Also,
please obtain a copy of each of the following in
some form. It's
fine with me if you use Ebooks
and PDFs on tablets or other larger touchscreen computers, but
you'll want to mark
key passages in advance of
class discussion. Other course readings will be provided as PDFs or
otherwise will be made
available electronically.
Gerald of Wales, The
History and Topography of Ireland,
trans. John O'Meara [from the
first recension]
(New York: Penguin, 1983), ISBN
0140444238.
If
you'd like to check the Latin, here
is the text of the first recension,
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjy6ba9v8yg2l9u/gerald%20topographia%20hibernie%20first%20recension.pdf;
for the
second recension,
https://archive.org/stream/giraldicambrensi05gira#page/n11/mode/2up;
for a
digitized, lavishly
illustrated manuscript,
see British
Library, Royal MS 13 B VIII, 1r-34,
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_13_b_viii
Chaucer, Geofffrey.
Parliament of Fowles and
House of Fame. I'll be
using the Riverside Chaucer,
which many of you might
already own; otherwise, you
can use the Dream Visions and Other Poems (ISBN
0393925889) published by Norton, ed. Kathryn Lynch. Whatever edition
you use should have the text in Middle English. You'll
also want the Prioress's Portrait from the General
Prologue of The Canterbury Tales.
Henryson,
Robert, The Complete Works,
ed. David J. Parkinson
(Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2010). ISBN
9781580441391
The text is available for free online at
If
you are buying the book used, be careful to get this edition rather
than the 1997 one by Kindrick. The 2010 Parkinson edition improves on
Kindrick in several respects,
perhaps most usefully, by providing a substantial introduction to
reading Middle Scots and by
glossing the text more thoroughly, making it easier for to read.
If you'd like to see the 1570
edition like the one Parkinson
used, go to EEBO (avail. in
Grad Center Library Databases) and
do a keyword search for “Henrisone.”
Thacker,
Eugene. In the Dust of This Planet: Horror of Philosophy vol. 1.
(Alresford, UK: Zero Books, 2011). ISBN 184694676X
The Saga of the
Volsungs, trans. Jesse Byock
(New York: Penguin, 2004). ISBN 0140447385.
I
do not
read Old Norse, but if you do, let
us know.
If you're buying a different translation, get one
done
first
within
your lifetime, as
earlier translations often
archaize
the language, which is interesting for a history of medievalism, but
perhaps less interesting for us. A
not cheap facing page edition is available through here:
http://aq-verlag.de/bibliotheca-germanica-series-nova/vol-3-volsunga-saga/
Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight. Any edition is
fine; a translation is fine, actually, if you're not comfortable with
Middle English, but ideally you'll read it in Middle English.
Wolfe,
Cary. Before the
Law: Humans and Other Animals in a Biopolitical Frame (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2012), ISBN 0226922413.
| January | |
| Jan 27 | General
Approaches Genesis 1-3 John Lydgate, “The Fifftene Tokyns aforn the Doom” (https://archive.org/stream/minorpoemsofjohn00lydguoft#page/116/mode/2up) Souillac Column: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharmanka/sets/72157626077568847/ “The Wolf Child of Hesse” (translation in Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ethics and Objects, ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen (Washington, DC: Oliphaunt Books, 2012)) Exemplum 453, “Luporum more currit et ululat aliquis,” in An Alphabet of Tales, ed. Mary Macleod Banks, Vol II. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1905) https://archive.org/stream/analphabettales01ligoog#page/n68/mode/2up |
| February | |
| Feb 3 | Theoretical Principles for Animal Studies Wolfe, Before the Law Short medieval hunting law translated here: http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2012/06/forest-law-and-deers-lively-carcass.html Short medieval readings: “Melion,” http://www.liv.ac.uk/media/livacuk/cultures-languages-and-area-studies/liverpoolonline/Werwolf.pdf Chaucer's portrait of the Prioress from the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales |
| Feb 10 | Animal Communities/Talking Animals Chaucer, Parliament of Fowles and House of Fame Donna Haraway, When Species Meet, introduction |
| Feb 20 (Thurs) | Animals, Violence, and Sympathy Henryson, The Morall Fabillis
Donna Haraway, When
Species Meet, introduction (continue discussion)
|
| Feb 24 | Animals and Lineage Marie de France, “Guigemar,” “Yonec,” and “Bisclavret” (from the Lais) “Androcles and the Lion [and the Bear Mother],” in The Early English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum, ed. Sidney J. H. Herrtage (London: Trübner & Co., 1879), 327-331, https://archive.org/stream/earlyenglishver03herrgoog#page/n364/mode/2up
Geoffrey
of Auxerre, On the Apocalypse,
Joseph Gibbons, trans., 139-57 [Melusine];
Alphabet
of Tales #653
on the Prince of Crete,
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/AlphTales/1:657?rgn=div1;view=fulltext.Jeffrey J. Cohen, “The Werewolf's Indifference,” Studies in the Age of Chaucer 34.1 (2012): 351-356. Susan Crane, “Wolf, Man, and Wolf-Man,” in Animal Encounters: Contacts and Concepts in Medieval Britain (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 42-68 |
| March | |
| March 3 | Talking Back Testamentum Porcelli; “By a Forest as I gan fare” DIMEV 922, from Middle English Lyrics, ed. Maxwell S. Luria and Richard L. Hoffman (New York: Norton, 1974): 123-25; Middle English “Balaack and Balaam” from The Chester Plays; Thomas Brown translation of G. Gelli, Circe, Book 1 (On the Oyster and the Mole); “Complaint of the Birds to Luther against Wolfgang,” trans. in Preserved Smith, The Life and Letters of Martin Luther (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 360-61 https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersm00smitgoog#page/n404/mode/2up; Margaret Cavendish, “The Hunting of the Hare,” http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=chadwyck_ep/uvaGenText/tei/chep_1.0848.xml;chunk.id=d165 ; Choose any three from Phaen/Ex 8.3 (2013), on “Animal and Food Ethics” http://www.phaenex.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/phaenex/issue/current/showToc |
| March 10 | The Manuscript Turn in Medieval Animal Studies John Lydgate, “Debate of the Horse, Goose, and Sheep.” Readings on “the manuscript turn” from Sarah Kay (Postmedieval 2.1 (2011): 13-32), Bruce Holsinger (“Uterine Vellum, A Florilegium,” http://burnablebooks.com/uterinevellum/), Elaine Treherne (Postmedieval 4.4 (2014): 465-78), and selections from Katie Walter, ed. Reading Skin in Medieval Literature and Culture (available through Palgrave Connect) |
| March 17 | Other European Traditions The Saga of the Volsungs Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini, selections, http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/vm/vmeng.htm (from University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 10.3 (1925) Everyone: find a relevant or interesting scholarly article on your own and come in ready to talk about it and how it enriches this week's reading. |
| March 24 | Theoretical Principles for Ecostudies Gerald of Wales, History and Topography of Ireland
Serenella Iovino,
“Steps to a Material Ecocriticism. The Recent Literature About
the
“New
Materialisms” and Its Implications for Ecocritical Theory,”
Ecozon@
3.1 (2012):
http://www.ecozona.eu/index.php/journal/issue/view/7/showTocPick two from Postmedieval 4.1 “Ecomaterialism” |
| March 31 | Into the Wild? The Anglo-Norman Voyage of St. Brendan, translation from Appendix 2, Jude S. Mackley, Northern World : The Legend of St Brendan : A Comparative Study of the Latin and Anglo-Norman Versions Jane Bennett, “A Vitalist Stopover on the Way to a New Materialism,” in Diana Coole and Samatha Frost, eds., New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010), 47-69 Pick two more from Postmedieval 4.1 “Ecomaterialism” |
| April | |
| April 7 | Settlement, Food, and The Origins of Culture Ruth Evans, “Gigantic Origins: An Annotated Translation of De Origine Gigantum,” Arthurian Literature 16 (1998): 197-211. Jean de Wavrin, Recueil des croniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne, in A Collection of the Chronicles and Ancient Histories of Great Britain, Now Called England, trans. William Hardy (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864), 1: 4-29, https://archive.org/stream/acollectionchro00hardgoog#page/n92/mode/2up Serpil Oppermann, “Material Ecocriticism and the Creativity of Storied Matter,” https://www.academia.edu/5330227/Material_Ecocriticism_and_the_Creativity_of_Storied_Matter to appear here: http://www.tijdschriftframe.nl/portfolio/item/frame-26-2-ecocriticism/ selections from Marx, The German Ideology on human/animal difference Due: One paragraph sketch of final project |
SPRING BREAK
|
|
| April 28 | Death and Waste Middle English “Debate Between the Body and the Worms” Middle English Vision of Tundale http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/foster-three-purgatory-poems-vision-of-tundale-introduction Eugene Thacker, In the Dust of this Planet |
| May | |
| May 5 |
Plant Thought
Two episodes from the
Alexander Legend: Alexander and Dindimus and the “Tree Women”
Alexander and Dindimus:
Ranulf Higden and John Trevisa,
Polychronicon, ed.
Joseph Rawson Lumby (London: Longman & Co., 1865), 3:454-79
Tree Women: read Peggy
McCracken, “The Floral and the Human,” in Animal,
Vegetable, Mineral: Ethics and Objects, ed. Jeffrey Jerome
Cohen (Washington, DC: Oliphaunt Books, 2012), 91–122
Dominic Pettman, “The Noble Cabbage [Review of
Michael Marder’s Plant-Thinking],” Los Angeles
Review of Books, July 28, 2013,
https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-noble-cabbage-michael-marders-plant-thinking/
Due:
Prospectus/Annotated Bibliography for Final Project
|
| May 12 |
The Nonhuman in/with
the Familiar
Sir Gawain and the Green KnightEileen A. Joy, “Weird Reading” in Speculations IV http://punctumbooks.com/titles/speculations-issue-iv/ |
| May 19 | Final Paper presentations Even if you're not writing a paper, please attend and give your colleagues your support. |
| May 26 | Final Paper (15-20 pages) Due |
