ENGL 95: Autobiography and Confession in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Spring 2011, Th. 2 pm – 4:30 pm
Professor Ingrid Nelson
Johnson Chapel 14
Office hours: W 2 pm – 4 pm
Did medieval and early modern people think of themselves as individuals? What aspects of their
personal experience did they record, and why? This course will examine medieval and
Renaissance records of private experience, in the genres of confession and autobiography. We
will examine the use of the first person point of view in narrative and poetry as a technology of
the self, which creates representations of selfhood out of individual experience. We will ask,
what constitutes confessional literature? To what extent must the individual experience be made
fictional and rhetorical? How do representations of individual experience speak to their
contemporary cultural, social, and political contexts? How do these texts bear on the
construction of Western ideas of the individual? How do gender and class inform
representations of individual experience? What effect do form and genre have on the
representation of the individual? To what extent does ideology drive an individual’s
representation of his or her own experience?
Note: Where necessary, readings will be provided in translation.
Textbooks (available at Amherst Books)
Augustine, Confessions (Oxford)
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (Hackett)
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, trans. Betty Radice (Penguin)
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (Penguin)
Dante, Vita Nuova (Penguin)
Petrarch, Selections from the Canzoniere (Oxford World Classics)
The Book of Margery Kempe (Norton Critical)
Francois Villon, The Poems of Francois Villon, trans. Galway Kinnell (Univ. Press of New
England)
Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (Penguin Classics)
In coursepack (available for purchase in Johnson Chapel 1)
Brian Stock, from After Augustine, Chapter 1, pp. 8-23
Charles Taylor, The Sources of the Self, Ch. 2: “The Self in Moral Space”, pp. 25-52.
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, An Introduction, vol.1, Part 3: “Scientia Sexualis”
Mary G. Mason, “The Other Voice: Autobiographies of Women Writers,” in James Olney, ed.,
Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical, pp. 207-235.
Hoccleve, “My Compleint” in ‘My Compleint’ and Other Poems, ed. Roger Ellis (Exeter:
University of Exeter Press, 2001), 115-130.
de Man, “Autobiography as De-Facement” from The Rhetoric of Romanticism
Greenblatt, Stephen. Renaissance Self-Fashioning (excerpt)
Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” (excerpts)
Available Online
Burckhardt, Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy: Part 2, “The Development of the
Individual” (avail. online through library, pp. 106-134.)
Clanchy, “Documenting the Self: Abelard and the Individual in History” in Historical Research
76.193 (2003), pp. 293-309.
Caroline Bynum, “Did the Twelfth Century Invent the Individual?” in Jesus as Mother, Chapter
3, pp. 82-109. Available as E-book through Amherst College library website.
The Examinations of Anne Askew
Bunyan, Pilgrims Progress and Grace Abounding (Knopf, 2004)
You may find this e-book useful, available as a link from the Amherst Library catalogue:
Anderson, Linda. Autobiography (London: Routledge, 2001)
Assignments:
1) Short Paper. One 5-7 page thesis-driven paper on one text (or section of a text) from the
class. Although the emphasis of this paper should be on the main text, students should
use the critical and theoretical vocabulary we develop as necessary. Due Mar. 3.
2) Blog. Because we meet once a week, it’s important to continue our discussions virtually.
You are required to post once a week to the course blog. Aim to post around Monday or
Tuesday. You need not have completed the reading to post. Share your thoughts about
what you’ve read so far, or respond to another post.
http://autobiographymedren.wordpress.com
3) Prospectus: A brief description of your plan for your long paper. The prospectus should
clearly state your argument, the primary text(s) you will engage, and the kinds of critical
and theoretical questions you will engage. Due Apr. 21.
4) Annotated Bibliography: Each student must compile and present to the class an
annotated bibliography of at least 5 critical and/or theoretical sources. These should be
sources germane to the text that the student will focus on in the final paper, or to the
student’s critical/theoretical interests. Due Apr. 21.
5) Long paper (18-20 pages): Each student will write a research paper that combines their
reading of a text or texts with theoretical and critical background. Although this paper
requires secondary research, its primary purpose is to present an argument about a text,
either by considering it through the lens of a critical theory, by contributing to an ongoing
critical discussion, or by situating the text in its cultural and historical milieu. Due May
5.
6) Student Presentations. Each student will be responsible for presenting material and
providing discussion questions periodically throughout the semester.
All of these assignments will weigh in your final grade, with the long paper counting for more
than any of the other assignments. Attendance and thoughtful, consistent participation will also
be an important component of your grade. Missing class without a signed college official’s note
(for a medical or family reason) will result in the significant lowering of your final grade.
Policy on Extensions
No extensions will be given on assignments except in case of emergency, to be documented with
a signed college official’s note.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Jan. 27: Introduction
Autobiography: Genre, Self, and Truth
“The Autobiographical Pact,” by Philippe Lejeune, from On Autobiography, pp. 3-30 (handout)
Burckhardt, Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy: Part 2, “The Development of the
Individual” (avail. online through library, pp. 106-134.)
Feb. 3: Classical origins
Augustine, Confessions, books 1-9.
Brian Stock, from After Augustine, Chapter 1, pp. 8-23 (coursepack)
Feb. 10: Prison and the Self
Boethius, Consolations of Philosophy
Taylor, “The Self in Moral Space” (coursepack)
Feb. 17: The Erotic Self
Dante, Vita Nuova
Petrarch, Canzoniere
Foucault, “Scientia Sexualis” (coursepack)
Feb. 24: The spiritual self: revelation and representation (1)
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Mason, “The Other Voice” (coursepack)
Mar. 3: Confessing the abject body
Abelard, Historia Calamitatum
Clanchy, “Documenting the Self: Abelard and the Individual in History” (online)
Short Paper Due
Mar. 10: The spiritual self: revelation and representation (2)
The Book of Margery Kempe
Bynum, “Did the Twelfth Century Discover the Individual?” (online)
**********Spring Break***************
Mar. 24: Testaments and Complaints
Hoccleve, “My Compleint” (coursepack)
Villon, Legacy and Testament
DeMan, “Autobiography as De-Facement” (coursepack)
Mar. 31: Confession and Dissent
The Examinations of Anne Askew (excerpts) and Bunyan, Grace Abounding (pp. 271-368)
Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” (coursepack)
Apr. 7: Library visit: Research training session
Apr. 14: Allegories of Life
(Visit from Dr. Stephanie Kamath)
DeGuileville, excerpt from The Pilgrimage of Human Life (handouts)
Apr. 21: The Self as Artist
The Autobiography of Benevenuto Cellini (excerpts)
Greenblatt, Stephen. Renaissance Self-Fashioning (coursepack)
Annotated Bibliography and Prospectus Due
Apr. 28: Poet, Courtier, and the Lyric “I”
Wyatt and Surrey, poems
May 5: Wrap-up and Review
Long Paper Due
Retrospective prose narrative written by a real person concerning his own existence, where the
focus is his individual life, in particular the story of his personality.
Philippe Lejeune’s definition of autobiography
Here es a vision, shewed by the goodenes of God to a devoute woman. And hir name es Julian,
that is recluse atte Norwiche and yit is on life, anno domini 1413. In the whilke vision er fulle
many comfortabille wordes and gretly stirrande to alle thaye that desires to be Cristes loverse.
Julian of Norwich, Showings
In the Middle Ages both sides of the human consciousness—that which was turned within as that
which was turned without—lay dreaming or half awake beneath a common veil. The veil was
woven of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession, through which the world and history were
seen clad in strange hues. Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people,
party, family, or corporation—only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted
into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the State and of all the things of this world
became possible. The subjective side at the same time asserted itself with corresponding
emphasis; man became a spiritual individual, and recognized himself as such. In the same way
the Greek had once distinguished himself from the barbarian, and the Arabian had felt himself an
individual at a time when other Asiatics knew themselves only as members of a race. It will not
be difficult to show that this result was owing, above all, to the political circumstances of Italy.
Burckhardt, Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy