Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

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LITP0305X-S11

Love Stories:
Discussion

Love Stories: Desire & Gender in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Pre 1800)
Our modern conceptions of desire, self, body and gender are informed in complex and often invisible ways by earlier narratives of love. We will investigate the conflicting accounts of love written during the medieval and early modern periods, considering in particular the relationship between the idealized notion of "courtly love" and the darker, medical picture of love as a form of madness or melancholia. Reading a variety of works including lyric, drama, romance and medical texts, we will look at the construction of gender and sexuality, the relationship between desire and subjectivity, and the gendering of certain "diseases" of love (such as hysteria) during this period. Authors to be studied will include: Chaucer, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante, Shakespeare, and a selection of male and female lyric poets. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Course Reference Number (CRN):
22240
Subject Code:
LITP
Course Number:
0305
Section Identifier:
X

Course

LITP 0305

All Sections in Spring 2011

Spring 2011

LITP0305A-S11 Lecture (Wells)
LITP0305X-S11 Discussion (Wells)
LITP0305Y-S11 Discussion (Wells)