17351
Specialization Seminar
VS-Literatures of Medieval Britain: Abandoned Women
Wolfram Keller
Comments
Observing that the word abandonment connotes being exiled or an outcast as well as being shameless or outside the law, Lawrence Lipking observes that “the poetry of abandonment tends to touch on the limits of what is permitted or what is repressed in ordinary, comfortable life” (Abandoned Women and Poetic Tradition [U Chicago P, 1988], xii). Female abandonment is a topos in western European literatures, one that resonates with contemporary concerns within feminism/gender/queer studies as well as postcolonial theory. In this course, we will revisit the depiction of abandoned women in classical, medieval and post-medieval literature—within the mentioned theoretical frameworks.
Coursework will ensue in three stages. At the beginning of the semester, we will discuss Ovid’s Heroides (in translation), before we shall move on to Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women to see how a medieval English writer engaged with female abandonment. Towards the end of the semester, we will study a few (shorter) poems about abandoned women in Romantic, Victorian and contemporary literatures in English to assess the differences and similarities in the depiction of abandonment across the period divide between ‘the medieval’ and ‘the modern.’
Student should be familiar with Ovid’s Heroides by the beginning of the semester:
Coursework will ensue in three stages. At the beginning of the semester, we will discuss Ovid’s Heroides (in translation), before we shall move on to Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women to see how a medieval English writer engaged with female abandonment. Towards the end of the semester, we will study a few (shorter) poems about abandoned women in Romantic, Victorian and contemporary literatures in English to assess the differences and similarities in the depiction of abandonment across the period divide between ‘the medieval’ and ‘the modern.’
Student should be familiar with Ovid’s Heroides by the beginning of the semester:
- A. S. Kline’s translation of the Heroides is available online at https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Heroideshome.php
- Alternatively, students could consult the translation by Paul Murgatroyd, Bridget Reeves, and Sarah Parker [Routledge, 2017], which includes commentary and additional materials)
16 Class schedule
Regular appointments
Tue, 2025-10-14 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-10-21 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-10-28 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-11-04 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-11-11 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-11-18 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-11-25 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-12-02 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-12-09 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2025-12-16 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2026-01-06 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2026-01-13 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2026-01-20 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2026-01-27 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2026-02-03 08:00 - 10:00
Tue, 2026-02-10 08:00 - 10:00