LTWL 172: Parzival and the Grail TTh 12:30-2:00 WLH 2206
Professor Lisa Lampert-Weissig Winter 2012
Office: LIT 347; (858) 822-0204
www.medievallit.org llampert@ucsd.edu
Required texts:
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, trans. Helen M. Mustard and Charles E. Passage. Random House, 1961. ISBN: 0394701887
Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval: The Story of the Grail, trans. Burton Raffel, Yale UP, 1999.
ISBN: 0-300-075863
Joachim Bumke, Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages, trans.
Thomas Dunlap. Duckworth, c. 2000. ISBN: 1-58567-051-0
“Peredur Son of Evrawg” from The Mabinogion on e-reserve at Geisel Library.
Malory, “The Tale of the Sangreal” from Le Morte D’Arthur on e-reserve at Geisel Library.
“Sir Perceval of Galles” (on-line see link below)
Course Requirements:
Thinksheets: 15%
Oral Report: 15%
Essay: 30%
Final Exam: 25%
Class Participation: 15%
Tentative Schedule of Readings:
Week One:
Tues., Jan. 10: Introduction
Thurs., Jan. 12: Parzival: Books 1 and 2. Bumke: 1-57. Thinksheets
Week Two:
Tues., Jan. 17: Parzival: Book 3. Perceval, lines 1-1300. Bumke: 61-99. Thinksheets
Thurs., Jan. 19: Parzival: Book 4. Perceval, lines. 1301-2997. Bumke: 178-202. Report on Food and Drink. Thinksheets
Week Three:
Tues., Jan. 24: Parzival: Book 5. Perceval, lines 2998-4164. Report on medieval dress. Bumke: 128-155. Thinksheet
Thurs., Jan. 26: Parzival: Book 6. Perceval, lines 4165-4816. Report on the Legend of the
Round Table. Bumke: 275-311. Thinksheet
Week Four:
Tues., Jan. 31: Parzival: Book 7. Perceval, lines 4817-5656.
Report on childhood; adolescence. Bumke: 68-74. Thinksheet
Thurs., Feb. 2: Parzival: Book 8. Perceval, lines 5657-6029. Report on chess.
Thinksheet Last day for paper proposal.
Week Five:
Tues., Feb. 7: Parzival: Book 9. Perceval, lines 6030-6341 Report on the Templars.
Thinksheet
Thurs., Feb. 9: Parzival: Books 10 and 11. Thinksheet. Report on the courtly lady. Bumke: 325-359.
Week Six:
Tues., Feb. 14: Parzival: Book 12. Report on Castles. Bumke: 103-127. Thinksheet question for Book 12.
Perceval: read to conclusion.
TS Group A.
Thurs., Feb. 16: Parzival: Book 13. TS Group B.
Week Seven:
Tues., Feb. 21: Parzival: Book 14. TS Group A. Report on medieval performance: Music. Bumke: 545-550. Thinksheet question.
Thurs., Feb. 23: Parzival: Book 15. Report on Astrology. TS Group B. Parzival: Book 16. Report topic? Thinksheet question.
Week Eight:
Tues., Feb. 28: “Peredur Son of Evrawg” from The Mabinogion on e-reserve at Geisel Library. Report on Loomis and theories of Celtic origins of Arthurian myth. Thinksheet
Thurs., March 1: Malory, “The Tale of the Sangreal” from Le Morte D’Arthur on e-reserve at Geisel Library.. Thinksheet
Week Nine:
Tues., Mar. 6: Malory, “The Tale of the Sangreal” from Le Morte D’Arthur on e-reserve at Geisel Library. Papers due today.
Thurs., Mar. 8: Malory, “The Tale of the Sangreal” from Le Morte D’Arthur on e-reserve at Geisel Library Thinksheet question on Malory for today.
Week Ten:
Tues., Mar. 13: Review/time to catch up; Sharing of paper ideas. No thinksheet.
Thurs., Mar. 15: No class today
Final: Take home exam will be distributed in advance and due 3/20 at 2:30 pm (submission details TBA).
Attendance: Attendance is expected. Poor attendance can lower your grade. Moreover, if you miss class repeatedly your grade will be lowered automatically. If you miss 3 or more classes then you cannot earn an A for the course; if you miss 5 or more classes then you cannot earn a B; if you miss 7 or more classes then you cannot earn a C; if you miss more than 10 classes you cannot earn a D. The three-class policy is not a get-out-of-class-free-card. You are expected to attend class, and you are expected to turn in your thinksheets in class (see below). It is neither expected nor advised that you miss 3 or more classes. Coming in late, which is disruptive, may count as an absence at my discretion and can lower your course participation grade.
Deadlines: I consider being able to meet a deadline to be an important part of written assignments. For that reason, and in the interest of fairness to students who do meet deadlines, the consequences of submitting late work are severe. Exact instructions regarding papers and deadlines will be detailed on the paper handout, but late papers will lose at least one full grade per day late and may not receive comments. Papers left in my mailbox or at my office door are left at the student’s own risk and students are responsible for making frequent computer backups and for keeping all notes and materials related to the paper until the course concludes and final grades are submitted to the registrar. Only documented legitimate medical or personal emergencies will excuse late work. If an emergency arises, you must let me know as soon as possible and I will do my best to accommodate your needs. It is your responsibility to keep me informed, and, indeed, I can’t help you if I don’t know that there is a problem.
Think Sheets: Think sheets are response papers designed to stimulate discussion and help students engage with the works we are reading. During class I will ask a question or assign a topic for the thinksheet.
If you miss the thinksheet topic, it is your responsibility to consult the course website or contact a classmate to find out what you missed. Do not expect that I will necessarily have time to email assignments to you individually if you miss class. Unless otherwise specified, the thinksheets will usually be about 1 double-spaced typed page. Thinksheets must be typed. Emailed thinksheets are not acceptable.
I have really been impressed with the thinksheets that students write, and, after an entire semester, they add up to quite a bit of writing. In recognition of this, when you enroll in this class you start out with an A on your thinksheets. I will comment on your thinksheets and try to give you feedback to what you have written, but I won’t grade the them in the same rigorous way in which I will evaluate your formal paper. If your thinksheets show effort and engagement with the assignment, you will maintain the A that you will have earned by working on these thinksheets throughout the semester.
“How do I know my thinksheets are up to par?”: If I determine that your thinksheets do not show the kind of effort that I expect or if there seem to be other problems, I will inform you in my comments on the thinksheet and ask you to meet with me to discuss improvement. It is your responsibility to come to office hours or otherwise arrange to meet with me and discuss this in order to maintain full credit.
You are allowed to miss one thinksheet for whatever reason. Beyond that, only documented medical excuses or documented personal emergencies will excuse a late thinksheet. It is your responsibility to inform me about such emergencies as soon as it is possible for you to do so. If you do not contact me in a timely fashion, it may not be possible to make up the work. Thinksheets are due at the beginning of class. Without a documented excuse, late thinksheets will not be accepted and will be deducted from your thinksheet grade at the end of the semester. I will keep track of your thinksheets in my grade roster, but mistakes can happen--you should hold onto to all of the graded thinksheets until final grades are posted by the Registrar.
Vacation plans and extracurricular activities are never an excuse for missed or late work.
“What is late work?”: Sometimes there=s just something that keeps a person from getting to class on time. What I want to avoid is disruptions to the class by habitual late entrances and the abuse of the system of thinksheets. If I think you are having a problem with getting the thinksheets in on time, I will inform you promptly and we will discuss how you can avoid losing full credit for your work and attendance. It will be your responsibility to follow up on meeting with me about this.
Oral Reports: Each student will present a 15-minute presentation on a topic related to our reading. The goal here is help to illuminate some historical or cultural aspect of the text. See Oral Report handout for further details.
Paper: You are to write a 10-12 page paper on a topic of your choosing and design. On Feb. 7, you will submit a one to two page double-spaced proposal for your paper topic, outlining what you plan to do and any research plans you have. These proposals are meant to facilitate my helping you with your topic and will not be graded. If, however, you fail to submit any form of proposal by Feb. 7 then this may adversely impact your course participation grade. The papers are due in class, Tues. March 6.