Essential module information – please note that the information provided here is for the stated year/
semester only and may change in subsequent sessions.
Module: FR4116 Mediaeval Marvels: the Exotic, the East and the Other in
Mediaeval French Literature
Credits 15
Year/Semester: 2015 Semester One
Module Co-ordinator: Dr V. Turner
Lecturers: Dr V. Turner
Contact Details: vct2@st-andrews.ac.uk
Module Surgery Hours: tbc
Module Description
Relations between the medieval Occident and Orient were highly complex during a period that saw
violent crusades and interracial conflicts. Cases abound where notions of East and West merge and
the East itself may even appear as no more than fantasy. Alongside the hideous monsters common to
medieval epic, throughout the 12th-13th centuries there are many examples of fascination with the East
that betray a desire to emulate its opulence as well as a fear of the foreign.
This module consequently aims to introduce students to a variety of literary representations of the
medieval East and its residents, focussing above all on representations of cultural difference, the
marvellous, and the exotic. The set texts will give students the chance to engage with theoretical
questions of otherness, fantasy and gender in relation to the specific historical period in question and
to develop their ability to work critically with primary Old French materials.
Teaching and Learning
The module sessions are as follows.
Sessions
Frequency 1.5 hours per week (9 weeks)
1 hour lecture (week one)
2 hour workshop (week two)
Plus 1 weekly module surgery hour.
When Tbc
Where Tbc
Total module hours:
Essential module information – please note that the information provided here is for the stated year/
semester only and may change in subsequent sessions.
Scheduled learning: 27.5
Guided independent study: 123.5
Assessment
The module will be assessed by two pieces of work as outlined below:
Assessment
Due Date
% of
Module
Mark
Description
Submission
Details
Commentary
40%
A commentary on a passage of Tbc
Old French from the texts
studied in weeks 1-6.
Essay
60%
Tbc
An essay on a theme of the
student’s choice. Essays must be
comparative and titles must be
approved by the module
convenor.
Reading list
The core reading list for this module is (Note: editions tbc)
Jean Bodel, Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas.
Floire et Blancheflor
Aucassin et Nicolette
Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne
Huon de Bordeaux (extracts to be provided)
La Chanson de Roland and Le Cycle de Guillaume d’Orange (extracts to be provided)
Week-by-week programme
The programme for this module is outlined below:
Week 1:
Lecture: Introduction to Old French Literature; historical context of the period.
Week 2:
Old French Language Workshop (key introduction to the reading of Old French with grammatical
instruction, vocabulary building/reading exercises to test comprehension).
Key resources to be used: Einhorn, Old French: A Concise Handbook; Greimas, Dictionnaire de l’ancien
français.
Week 3:
Lecture: Epic Beginnings: Human and Inhuman (focus on early epic representations of the East and
others in Chansons de geste).
Essential module information – please note that the information provided here is for the stated year/
semester only and may change in subsequent sessions.
Seminar: representations of cross-cultural violence and interplay between admiration and denigration
of the other (primary text extracts).
Week 4:
Lecture: What and where is the medieval East? Geography, fantasy and reality.
Seminar: Period context and introduction to theoretical paradigms (in particular orientalism) and
visual representations of the East (e.g. the Ebstorff Map; T-O maps)
Week 5:
Lecture: Representing the religious other: Islam and the Prophet (heresy/idolatry; false gods;
community and persecution)
Seminar: religious conflict and the miraculous – propaganda and context.
Primary Text: Jean Bodel, Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas.
Week 6:
Lecture: Idyllic Romance I: Love and Desire (idyllic romance as genre; what kind of love is presented
and what is its role? Marriage and religious conversion).
Seminar: interfaith relationships and desire for the other and courtly love.
Primary text: Floire et Blancheflor
Week 7:
Lecture: Idyllic Romance II: Material Difference (opulence and exoticism; concept of a marvel/the
marvellous)
Seminar: representing material culture(s), the natural and the artificial, trade and exchange
Primary Text: Floire et Blancheflor
Week 8:
Lecture: Gendering the East (representation of gender and cultural norms; gender crossings/reversals
in relation to otherness)
Seminar: gender and/as subversion
Primary Text: Aucassin et Nicolette
Week 9:
Lecture: Parody and Inversion (role of parody in representing the other – literary conventions and
expectations)
Seminar: the interplay of similarity and difference; the ‘gab’ (or boast) and intercultural conflict;
humour and otherness
Primary Text: Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne
Week 10:
Lecture: Monsters and Marvels I: Palaces and Peoples (later epic tradition as genre; merging of
different kinds of otherness e.g. Celtic and oriental)
Seminar: spaces of otherness; interplay of assimilation/conquest/contact
Primary Text: Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne (continued); Huon de Bordeaux (extracts)
Week 11:
Lecture: Monsters and Marvels 2: Giants, Genies and Fairies (medieval monstrosity and otherness; the
supernatural body)
Seminar: hybridity and difference; magic, the marvellous and the exotic; consolidation of themes.
Primary Text: Huon de Bordeaux (extracts)