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English 315/Religion 365

IMAGES OF THE OTHER IN THE EUROPEAN AND ISLAMIC MIDDLE AGES

The ways in which communities envisage otherness are often closely related to their understandings of themselves. Historically, a community's sense of its own identity evolves in conjunction with its need to distinguish itself from its neighbours and from subversive-seeming elements within its own makeup. This new course examines, in a comparative framework, various conceptualisations of the other in the European and Islamic Middle Ages. Materials under consideration include travel narratives by European and Middle Eastern travellers, merchants and sailors; European Crusader poems and Middle Eastern descriptions of real interactions with Crusaders; religious texts; maps and accounts of the marvellous; and fictional stories that feature travel and 'orientalism'.

Books available at the Wellesley College Bookstore:

H. Haddawy (tr.), "The Arabian nights".

Sir John Mandeville, "The travels of Sir John Mandeville".

Nizami, "The haft paykar", tr. J.S. Meisami.

"The poem of the Cid", trs. R. Hamilton and J. Perry.

Marco Polo, "The travels of Marco Polo", tr. R. Latham.

Edward Said, "Orientalism".

W. Shakespeare, "Othello".

"The Song of Roland", tr. G. Burgess.

Richard Stoneman (tr., ed.), "Legends of Alexander the Great".

All materials listed in the syllabus are available on reserve in the Knapp Media Center at the Margaret Clapp Library.

Requirements

1. Regular attendance and participation in class discussions; attendance at lectures by outside speakers, as marked in the syllabus. Attendance and participation count for 10% of the class grade.
2. Participation in discussions on electronic bulletin ENG315-S00. Each week one or two students will be responsible for posting comments on the week's reading by Thursday; these comments will be worth 10% of the grade. In addition, all students should contribute something to the bulletin at least nine out of the thirteen weeks of the term. Participation in these discussions will count for 15% of the grade over the course of the semester.
3. Students are required to write two papers for the course. The first paper, 5-10 pages in length, is due on March 13 and will be worth 25% of the grade; the second, 10-15 pages, is due on May 3 and will be worth 40% of the grade. Over the course of the semester all students should address in their papers both the Islamic and the European materials, either separately or in combination.

Syllabus

31 Jan. Introduction.

Introduction and visit to Clapp Library Special Collections.

 

7 Feb. Shakespeare: The Renaissance Other.

Reading:
"Othello".

 

14 Feb. Orientalism.

Reading:
E. Said, "Orientalism", pp. 1-110.

21 Feb. PRESIDENT’S DAY: NO CLASSES.

23 Feb. Travel literature I: European travellers.

Reading:
Marco Polo, "Travels', pp. 33-45, 113-181, 251-312.
Sir John Mandeville, "Travels", pp. 43-52, 72-93, 104-110.

28 Feb. Travel literature II: Middle Eastern travellers.

Reading:
Ibn Battuta, Travels, pp. 593-618 (Sind and northwestern India).
Sharaf al-Din Marvazi, The natural properties of animals, pp. 13-60 (China, the Turks,
India, the Ethiopians, remote countries and islands).
Biruni, Alberuni's India, pp. 17-32, 99-104.

6 March The Other Within: Jews in medieval European and Islamic writings.

Reading:
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 118-162 (description of Prioress); ‘Prioress’s Tale’.
William Biddulph, ‘Of the Jews’ (xerox).
N. Stillman, The Jews of Arab lands, pp. 113-114, 119- 123, 145-148, 149-151, 157-
1 61, 167-170, 214-216.

13 March Wonders and marvels I: European writings.

Guest lecturer: Dr John Fyler, Tufts University.
Reading:
Mandeville, Travels, pp. 165-190.
Slessarev (ed.), Prester John, The Letter and the Legend, pp. 67-79.
Stoneman, Legends of Alexander the Great, pp. 3-19, 57-75.
Froissart, Chronicles, pp. 263-279, 386-391.20 March SPRING BREAK.

27 March Wonders and marvels II: Middle Eastern writings.

Guest lecturer: Dr Shawkat Toorawa, Harvard University/University of Mauritius.
Reading:
Qur'an, xerox (on signs and belief/disbelief, jinn, eschatology).
A.J. Arberry (tr.), Muslim saints and mystics, pp. 53-61, 62-79, 161-165.
Buzurg ibn Shahriyar, The Book of the Wonders of India,
pp. 1-111.

3 April Romance I: The Arabian Nights.

Reading:
Haddawy, The Arabian nights, pp. 1-29, 66-77, 114-206.

10 April Romance II: European and Middle Eastern writings.

Reading:
Chaucer, General Prologue, lines 43-100 (description of Knight and Squire); ‘The Squire's Tale’.
Nizami, The haft paykar, tr. J.S. Meisami, pp. 34-144.

17 April PATRIOT’S DAY: NO CLASSES.

20 April Romance III: Chaucer and Boccaccio.

Reading:
Chaucer, "General Prologue", lines 309-330 (description of Man of Law); ‘Man of Law’s Tale’.
"Boccaccio", "The Decameron", "Prologue", Day 1.3, Day 2.7, Day 2.9, Day 5.2, Day 10.9.

24 April Songs of Great Deeds I: Pilgrims and crusaders.

Reading:
'The Song of Roland".
Usama ibn Munqidh, An Arab-Syrian gentleman and warrior in the period of the
Crusades, pp. 63-79, 161-170, 202-218.30 April MOVIE: THE CID.(evening)

 

1 May Songs of Great Deeds II: Nationalism, commerce, and collaboration.

Reading:
"The Poem of the Cid".

• Daphne Francois '06
• Maintained by: Professor Kathryn L. Lynch
• Department of English
• Page Created: August 6, 2003
• Page Modified: August 6, 2003
• Expires: August 6, 2004