tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post115601212438384066..comments2023-10-19T07:54:32.841-04:00Comments on Quod She: Medieval drama links and stuffDr. Viragohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156139936328460462006-08-21T01:58:00.000-04:002006-08-21T01:58:00.000-04:00As a matter of fact, I did catch your summer as a ...As a matter of fact, I did catch your summer as a governess mention. Takes me back a ways (and yes, I am indeed the real Tommy). Oh, btw, Pastry Pirate...great stuff. I've fantasized from time to time about going to culinary school myself, so it's interesting to get the play by play from someone who's actually doing it.Tommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03715333077435437447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156120098134176562006-08-20T20:28:00.000-04:002006-08-20T20:28:00.000-04:00For those people who do teach the Tales, Broadview...For those people who do teach the Tales, Broadview provides the best selection yet--you can actually teach the Knight-Miller transition without ruining the joke by explaining it to a group of students who've only read the Miller.<BR/><BR/>I also appreciated that the "Religious Contexts" section included the texts of the Credo, the Paternoster, and the Ave.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156106501413610522006-08-20T16:41:00.000-04:002006-08-20T16:41:00.000-04:00PS -- I'm a big fan of the Longman, too.PS -- I'm a big fan of the Longman, too.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156106400157482192006-08-20T16:40:00.000-04:002006-08-20T16:40:00.000-04:00Where I would use Broadview in a heartbeat is in a...<I>Where I would use Broadview in a heartbeat is in a medieval English lit. survey course. The Old English selections go a long way to demonstrating that OE lit. is more than just meadhalls and monsters. You've got an amazing selection of romances, and the wealth of drama selections we've already discussed. Couple this with a decent translation of Langland, and you're set.</I><BR/><BR/>And that's exactly the kind of course I'm consdering it for. We don't have a survey (I thought I'd just throw that Jeu d'Adam-Milton match-up idea out there) and my Medieval Lit. course is "Excluding Chaucer" (just like the MLA divisions!) and I teach Chaucer separately, so I hadn't really thought about this anthology in terms of its Chaucer selections. Thanks for the comments for the sake of those who do teach surveys and need to think about the Chaucer selections!<BR/><BR/>And you're absolutely right about the OE selections. In fact, along with the drama section, that's what got me so excited about this anthology. Plus, I like that they arrange things by manuscript book, which is often how I teach.<BR/><BR/>And LOL re: teaching PP and Patience your first time out. Man, I tried to teach Patience for the first time last year and totally bombed it. I'm still a little shaken.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156101487690227352006-08-20T15:18:00.000-04:002006-08-20T15:18:00.000-04:00I can see the desire not to use the York Crucifixi...I can see the desire not to use the York Crucifixion, amazing as it is: both Norton and Longman have it. But there are other plays from the York cycle that they could have chosen, and they could have really gotten ahead of Norton and Longman by choosing an N-Town play (since N-Town has never made any appearance in these anthologies).<BR/><BR/>You're right that Piers is hard to teach, esp. in a Brit. Lit. survey class (although I think that Passus 1 and the General Prologue would make a good week's worth of lectures and discussions). Remind me to tell you some time about my decision to make Piers Plowman the second text I ever taught (the first was Patience). It was in a freshman English seminar on allegory . . . ah, the stupid days of early grad school!<BR/><BR/>The dealbreaker for me on Broadview was the failure to include Parliament of Fowls (Longman has this text, and it's Longman that I use). I adamantly refuse to teach any of the Tales in the survey course: to do them justice, you need to teach the General Prologue and 1 other tale. Which means 2 weeks of class. Which means cutting out 1 other medieval author--something I will not do. Parliament gets around the entire issue by encapsulating the class dynamic of the Tales in 700 lines. :)<BR/><BR/>Where I would use Broadview in a heartbeat is in a medieval English lit. survey course. The Old English selections go a long way to demonstrating that OE lit. is more than just meadhalls and monsters. You've got an amazing selection of romances, and the wealth of drama selections we've already discussed. Couple this with a decent translation of Langland, and you're set.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156099701030448992006-08-20T14:48:00.000-04:002006-08-20T14:48:00.000-04:00Rob, yes, you're right -- I'd forgotten that they ...Rob, yes, you're right -- I'd forgotten that they chose the Towneley Herod, which I also thought was odd. And it's a bit weird that there's no Crucifixion or other Passion-related play from *any* cycle. And I'm actually kind of sick of the whole "Wakefield Master" chestnut in general.<BR/><BR/>And yes, I too found the small selection of Piers odd -- and it's even relegated to the "contexts" sections. Then again, I tend to avoid PP in my classes because I find it so hard to teach to my students (though sometimes I pull in Christ jousting in Piers armor with other crucifixion texts).<BR/><BR/>I haven't gone to the website yet, which the introduction says has additional texts. That's one thing that was holding me back from writing about the whole thing. In general, though, I think they're striving hard to be "different" (literally and in the colloquial sense) and they've achieved that. Plus, I often assign two anthologies -- both to make use of a variety of texts and to show students how an anthology is a critical statement.<BR/><BR/>And Bardiac -- te-hee, are you saying I'm a nerd? ;)Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156093544484479342006-08-20T13:05:00.000-04:002006-08-20T13:05:00.000-04:00It takes a true medievalist to rave about the Jeu ...It takes a true medievalist to rave about the Jeu d'Adam.<BR/><BR/>One of my best memories from a grad school class came during a discussion of the N Town Annunciation. I still get chills.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156090034173053202006-08-20T12:07:00.000-04:002006-08-20T12:07:00.000-04:00The Broadview Anthology is definitely a medieval d...The Broadview Anthology is definitely a medieval drama specialist's dream come true. I do think that the decision to include the Towneley Herod alongside the Towneley Second Shepherds' Play and the Chester Noah's Flood is the wrong one: I would rather have a play from the York cycle or the N-Town manuscript than 2 from Towneley.<BR/><BR/>The only real flaw with the Broadview medieval volume is the almost total absence of William Langland's Piers Plowman: 2 brief excerpts do not suffice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156084883633463172006-08-20T10:41:00.000-04:002006-08-20T10:41:00.000-04:00Er, I'm assuming you're my Real Life friend Tommy,...Er, I'm assuming you're my Real Life friend Tommy, but if you're not, ignore that last bit about being a governess.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156084746610181672006-08-20T10:39:00.000-04:002006-08-20T10:39:00.000-04:00That's hiilarious, Tommy. I have that same exact,...That's hiilarious, Tommy. I have that same exact, er, quote on my office door at school! :)<BR/><BR/>The play Mankind is even funny than that, I swear!<BR/><BR/>Btw, did you see me refer to my summer as a "governess" in 69 facts post?Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-1156038675162237732006-08-19T21:51:00.000-04:002006-08-19T21:51:00.000-04:00Here's what Jack Handey has to say about Mankind (...Here's what Jack Handey has to say about Mankind (and I'm paraphrasing here...)<BR/><BR/>To understand mankind, you have to look at the word itself. It's composed of two root words, "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? Nobody knows. It's a mystery. And so is mankind.Tommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03715333077435437447noreply@blogger.com