Kline, Daniel T.

English

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"NARWE IN CAGE": TEACHINGMEDIEVAL WOMEN IN THE FIRSTHALFOFTHE BRITISH LITERATURE SURVEYWhat is at stake when we do not teach medieval women writers in the Britishsurvey sequence?In my first 300-levelmedieval survey at the University of Alaska -Anchorage(UAA),I designed a course around "writing by and about medieval women,"drawing from my experience at the 1997NEH Summer Institute, "The LiteraryTraditions of Medieval Women."! I was pleased when 17 students signed up with"the new professor in the department," but was equally puzzled when severaldropped after the first day. One student took time to E-mail me about the course:I am a student who was enrolled in your Medieval Literature class. I say"was" because I have dropped it from my schedule. I dropped itbecause I was not interested in the material. However, this is not thereason why I am writing to you. I am writing to tell you that I thinkyour choice of material for English 315 was inappropriate. Engl. 315 is asurvey course, one intended to cover "representative authors andgenres." I do not think that your material-"Writing by (and about)Medieval Women"-was chosen with this intention in mind. I,therefore, think that your class was misrepresented in the catalog. 2He continued that such material is better placed in a women's studies oradvanced elective course.Somewhat surprised by his candor, I responded that the selections "we'relooking at this semester are representative texts that cover a broad range ofgenres, authors, styles, and time periods from across Europe to the Near East."!As you might suspect, I went on to propose that the questions of "canonicity"and "representation" are themselves highly vexed: Which texts and genres arerepresentative of what specific values and/or populations, as judged by whom?In fact, I offered that the whole notion of "Literature" is undergoing a re-examination and that a medieval survey class presented a good opportunity toconsider those very questions. The student wrote in reply:In the last analysis, though, my attitude boils down to that of unfulfilledexpectation: I came expecting Dante, Langland, Beowulf, Chretien, TheRomance ofthe Rose, an Icelandic saga perhaps, and, indeed, I would havebeen let down if this list did not include Marie de France. In fact, what Iexpected was a survey course, not a Medieval Literature with subtitlecourse.... I am saying that Engl. 315should be "representative" of theMiddle Ages. For myself, I would have found it equally unconscionable ifyou had made the class a study of the medieval epic and heroic poem-though I most assuredly would not have dropped.'EDThis student's frankly-stated belief is in itself "representative" of many in ourclasses and is also a symptom of the kind of tough curricular choices we face aswe design our courses. In my view, however, it would be unproductive simplyto criticize the view that a medieval survey course should be composed oftraditional canonical-and therefore largely male-writers or merely to censureits unstated premise that women's writing is somehow generally of less literaryvalue and is therefore not representative of medieval literary traditions. Moreinstructive from a pedagogical perspective is (1) to assess how those expectationsare formed and (2) to decide how we develop courses that go beyond the faciledichotomies (male/female, active/passive, canonical/noncanonical, literate/illiterate, devotional writing/courtly literature) that have marginalized theliterary traditions of medieval women."Pedagogically speaking, most students' introduction to English literature of theMiddle Ages, and many other students' only taste of this literature, comes in thefirst half of the English survey course." Practically speaking, for many of us, toteach the British survey is to teach the Norton Anthology ofEnglish Literature(NAEL).7 Because of its near monopoly in the sophomore survey market, theNAEL has assumed the status of canon-maker, both defining the range of whatcounts as "literature" and shaping many students' (and colleagues')understanding of things medieval."What I'd like to do in the balance of this essay is to map out one possibletrajectory through the Old and Middle English sections of the NAEL,withsuggestions for supplementary texts, and then to remark briefly how the issuesof women, gender, and society raised in these OE and ME sections might lead tofurther discussion in subsequent sections of the NAEL. My hope is that this essaywill provoke continued conversation about other successful approaches to theEnglish survey course and about making service courses like this an importantpart of the medievalist's teaching and research agenda.The NAEL's Old English section is notable for its inattention to texts thatforeground gender issues. The Anglo-Saxon selections, which have remainedvirtually unchanged since the first edition, clearly need to be revamped withmaterial dealing more directly with gender issues. I have used both "The Wife'sLament" and "Wulf and Eadwacer" to good advantage, and the next time I teachthe survey I will include Cynewulf's judith.9 These three pieces continue toinspire spirited discussion about the place and role-that is, the social anddiscursive construction-of women in "heroic" society, as well as provokeincisive analysis into the lives of women in the Anglo-Saxon period. If I had myway, the NAELwould also include either juliana or judithas a counterpoint toBeowulf, and these additions would broaden both the generic and cultural scopeof the sophomore survey.mThere are, of course, a number of ways to arrange the OE material, and I'm surewe have all experimented with many, but I have had good success with thefollowing reading schedule, based on three meetings per week:Week OneClass 1Class 2Class 3Week TwoClass 1Class 2Class 3Week ThreeClass 1Class 2Class 3Syllabus and Introduction to the Course / / Bede and"Caedmon's Hymn" (NAEL 16-19)"The Wanderer" (68-70) and "The Wife's Lament" (handout)"The Seafarer" (handout) and "Wulf and Eadwacer" (handout)"The Dream of the Rood" (19-21) and "The Battle of Maldon"(71-75)Beowulf (Introduction 21-26) "Prologue" to the "Fight withGrendel" (27-37)Beowulf "The Celebration at Heorot" to "Beowulf ReturnsHome" (37-55)Beowulf ""Beowulf and the Dragon" to Beowulf's death andburial (56-68)Judith (handout)Judith (handout)In conjunction with the readings, one or two students prepare "close readings"of specific passages of their choice as discussion starters each class period, and Iask them to write a highly-focused 3-4 page "response paper" near the end ofeach historical subdivision, which invites them to think synthetically across theentire section and trace a single idea across several texts. One prompt thatusually elicits a number of responses goes something like: "Define the 'heroicideal' in Beowulfor 'The Battle of Maldon' and trace its critique andtransformation in 'The Wife's Lament,' 'Wulf and Eadwacer,' or Judith." Theseresponse papers often help a student's thinking coalesce around a certain set ofissues, which they can then pursue throughout the rest of the term.Although largely missing from the OE subdivision, writing by and about womenis represented somewhat more fully in the Middle English segment of the NAEL.I have often offered some variation on the following schedule of readings:mWeek FourClass 1Class 2Class 3Week FiveClass 1Class 2Class 3Week SixClass 1Class 2Class 3Week SevenClass 1Class 2Class 3SirGawain andtheGreen Knight (NAEL, Parts 1-2)SirGawain andtheGreen Knight (Parts 3-4)The General Prologue to theCanterbury Tales (81-100)The Miller's Tale (101-17)The Wife ofBath's Prologue (117-35)The Wife ofBath's Tale (135-44)Margery Kempe, from The Book ofMargery Kempe (298-308); TheChester Play of Noah's Flood (308-18)Julian of Norwich, from A Book of Showings (292-98)Julian of Norwich, Revelation 14 (handout)The Second Shepherd's Play (318-44)Everyman (363-84)Midterm Exam: Old and Middle English LiteratureBeginning the ME section with Gawain as a critique of the Arthurian traditionprovides an important contrast to the heroic ideal in Beowulf, for the consummateknight finds himself at the very limit of his courtly resources as he is pursued byBertilak's wife. What's more, the question of Morgan le Fay's overall influenceon the action of Gawain further problematizes the issues of gender, power, anddiscourse in the poem.Next, it is difficult to cover the General Prologue in a single class period, but byassigning a pilgrim portrait to each class member, one can easily raise questionsof class and social standing, multiple points of view, and the status ofrepresentation-among many others-so crucial to an appreciation of theCanterbury Tales and other literature that follows. I then generally teach theMiller and the Wife-the Miller's Tale for its high-spirited artistry andcomplicated depiction of gender and power relations, and the Wife for theimportant critique of misogyny in the Prologue and subversion of masculinecourtly culture in the Tale. One could just as easily include the Franklin's Tale orthe selections from Malory to add a different dimension to any discussion ofheterosexual love relations and the gendered notions of honor and fidelity.mPersonally, I grew up with the 4th edition of the NAEL (1979), which stillincluded Pearl and SirOrjeo, and I now teach the 6th (1993), with its notableinclusion of Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and the Chester Play of Noah'sFlood. Although Margery explicitly occupies only a single class period (orsometimes two) in my version of the ME unit, she is in fact the core of the MEsection, and I have toyed with the idea of assigning her Book as parallel readingduring the first half of the course. Margery has been a miller, and thequarrelsome ale-wives of the Chester Noah provide an interesting counterpointto Margery's own experience as a brewer. The Wife, of course, also then leadsnaturally to Margery and the intellectual labor and social struggles of her Book,particularly Margery's appearance before the Archbishop of York, for if the Wife,as a fictional character, seems to be hard to take seriously for some students,Margery, as the first autobiographer in English, often makes the Wife's claimsseem conservative.As I'm sure you have also found, one of the most powerful moments of thesemester comes in that marvelous colloquy-"the holy dalliance" (NAEL 303)-during which two real, historic persons meetand affirm one another. Margery,the very public pilgrim, seeks the anchorite Julian at her cell in Norwich, and wehear the voice of the hermit in the faithful testimony of the sojourner: "The HolyGhost moveth never a thing again charity" (303). Although both womenoperated within the tradition of what we might call "affective piety," acharacteristic over-stressed in the NAEL selections in my view, both Margeryand Julian ultimately move far beyond the rather stereotypically "feminine"characteristics of strong emotional attachment to the wounded and humanChrist: Margery in her social and interpretive deftness before the Archbishop ofYork and Julian in the rigorous and systematic development of her theology. 10Accordingly, we read the whole of Julian's 14th Revelation concerning theparable of the lord and servant and mother/child.11 Although the NAEL is to belauded for its inclusion of these two important writers, I think we must heedAnne Clark Bartlett's warning, as voiced at this past summer's NEH Institute,that we should not too quickly establish a counter canon centered on MargeryKempe and Julian of Norwich, as worthy and important as they are, for such amove just as easily forecloses many other important women writers. 12As a Middle English specialist, I personally find that my OE selections leadnaturally into the ME selections, and together the medieval segment of mysurvey course forms a coherent basis from which to pursue the rest of thesemester's readings. The NAEL's selections in the 16th and Early 17th Centuryoffer more selections and a wider range 'of genres and issues than in the earlierliterature, though in less depth. Depending upon how one might structure thetransition from the ME period to the Renaissance, one could move easily fromthe stereotypes of the Mystery and Morality plays (Secunda Pastorum andmEveryman) to the seemingly more complicated gender dynamics of, say, KingLear. In some of my recent classes, students have responded critically to pairingsuch canonical staples as King Lear or Henry IV, Part I with the selections fromQueen Elizabeth (NAEL 997-100) and The Faerie Queen; the sonnet sequences ofSidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare with Lady Mary Wroth's Pamphilia andAmphilanthus (NAEL 1689-92); and Paradise Lost with Aemilia Lanyer's "Eve'sApology in Defense of Women" (NAEL1059-62). I'm sure many of us havediscovered other stimulating combinations of texts.All faculty face the unhappy trade-off between breadth of coverage and depth ofselection, but as a medievalist I take it as both my prerogative and responsibilityto take fully half a term in the OE and ME literature-even more, if I could getaway with it! I think the point of working primarily within the NAELselections-but pairing them creatively and surprisingly with other texts-is toraise exactly the question of canon formation and more specifically the genderednotions of power and society underlying the development of the canon. One ofthe best questions to which we can lead our students goes something like this,"Well, why is that selection in this book anyway?"As I write this essay, I am acutely aware that these suggestions present only onepossibility among many for approaching the sophomore survey class; I amequally sure that many others have even better ideas. Though teaching the firstsemester of Survey of English Literature may often be a "service" and thereforeless-desired course for many faculty members, it warrants our careful thought,best preparation, and finest faculty. The course often fulfills a General EducationRequirement, making it an important draw for non-English majors, and it oftenfunctions as a gateway or required course for (prospective) English majors. Itsstrategic placement within the college or university and in many Englishprograms makes it an ideal vehicle both to create an even greater space for theexamination of women's writing and gender issues in 300- and 400-level coursesand to negate the expectation that such discussions should be the sole provinceof specialized elective or women's studies courses. Until we make writing by andabout medieval women an essential part of what we teach-especially at the 100-and 200-levels-these important writers and the issues they raise will remain atthe margins of our students' awareness and interest.Daniel T. KlineAssistant Professor ofEnglishUniversity ofAlaska AnchorageAnchorage, Alaska 99508afdtk©uaa.alaska.edum1 The syllabi mentioned in the essay are avaiiabie online at <http://www.engl.uaa.alaska.edu/kline/index.htm>. and Iwelcomeyourcomments.2 Craig Jackson, <aschj@uaa.alaska.edu>"Medieval Literature:' 4 September 1997, personal E-mail (1 February1998)., Dan Kline, <afdtk@uaa.alaksa.edu>, "Re: Medieval Literature:' 4 September 1997, personal E-mail (17 February1998)., Craig Jackson, <aschj@uaa.alaska.edU>"Re: Medievai Literature:' 10 October 1997, personal E-maii (1 February1998).s See Gillian R. Overing, Helen T. Bennett, and Clare A. Lees, "Gender and Power: Feminism in Oid EnglishStudies:' Medieval Feminist Newsletter 10 (1990): 15-20 for a critique of this kind of dualistic reading of Anglo-Saxonliterature and culture .e Apart, that is, from popular treatments of medieval literature and culture, ranging from Xena, Monty Python and theHoly Grail, and Roger Corman's Knight Riders to Brother Cadlael, Braveheari, and John Boorman's Excalibur. Thesepop culture versions of medieval life, often more gender determined than their medieval proto-texts, present a different,though not unrelated, series of pedagogical challenges and opportunities.7 M. H. Abrams, gen. ed. The Norian Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1.6th ed. (New York: W. W. Norton,1993): 2586 pages .e One might take as a parallel case the reception of The Norian Anthology of African-American Literature, ed. HenryLouis Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997) as an indication of the cultural influence of theNorton Anthologies. Kevin Meehan writes, "I'm not trying to suggest that the world would be a better piace without theNorton, nor do I want to dismiss the monumentai efforts expended by the editors. But all monuments cast shadows, andthe bigger the monument the bigger the shadow. This makes it imperative to remember, recover and circulate thosevoices that are not included, and that run the risk of being lost through the Darwinian logic of canon formation" ("SpikingCanons:' The Nation, 12 May 1997: n.p.; EBSCOhost, <http://www.epnet.coml> Item Number 9705081830 [31 January1998])., For transiations of these shorter OE texts, see Kevin Crossiey-Holland and Bruce Mitchell, The Battle of Maldonand Other Old English Poems (New York: St. Martin's, 1966) and C. W. Kennedy, An Anthology of Old English Poetry(New York: Oxford University Press, 1966). Burton Raffei has translated Judith in Poems from the Old English (Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press, 1964) and Is coming out with a new Poems and Prose from the Old English (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1998), co-edited with Alexendra Hennessey Olsen. Recent Important articles include Helen T.Bennett, "Exile and the Semiosis of Gender in Old English Elegies:' in Class and Gender in Early English Literature:Intersections, ed. Britton J. Harwood and Giliian R. Overing (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994): 43-48, and inthe same voiume, Karma Lochrie, "Gender, Sexuai Violence, and the Politics of War in the Oid English Judith:' 1-20. Seealso Shari Horner, "Spiritual Truth and Sexual Violence: The Old English Juliana, Anglo-Saxon Nuns, and the Discourseof Female Monastic Enclosure:' Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 19 (1994): 658-675.10 Much more than just another example of "devotional" literature or conventional affective piety, the analytical rigorand technical innovation of Julian's Showings is becoming more widely recognized. For example, Joan N. Nuth writes, "Itis my argument that Julian's Showings deserve a place alongside the Cur Deus Homo as an important soteriologicalstudy" ("Two Medieval Soteriologies: Anselm of Canterbury and Julian of Norwich:' Theological Studies (1992), n.p.;EBSCOhost, <http://www.epnet.coml> Item Number 9608146898 [31 January 1998])." I use Edmund Colledge and James Waish's translation in Julian of Norwich: Showings, from the Classics ofWestern Spirituality Series (New York: Paullst, 1978),248-305.12 Roundtable Discussion, NEH Summer Institute at Rice University, ''The Literary Traditions of Medieval Women,"18 July 1997.m

Narwe in cage : Teaching Medieval Women in the First Half of the British Literature Survey

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Narwe in cage : Teaching Medieval Women in the First Half of the British Literature Survey

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