A. Books

Benson, Larry D., et al., The Riverside Chaucer, latest edition.

This is the most useable of the contemporary editions. It has vocabulary helps at the foot of each page, which is a great advantage. In addition, it has good introductions and a fine dictionary at the end, as do other modern texts.

Whatever edition you buy, however, use an "original", Middle-English edition of Chaucer. We simply can't work with translations. And you will need the notes and vocabulary that all modern editions of Chaucer provide you with.

I have already emailed you a message about Chaucer texts, which I will also put as a link on our course’s Home Page.

Furthermore, a translation will prevent you from spending the 2-3 weeks of reading of the original, which is necessary for you to begin to read Chaucer's English fluently. Please do not use translations.

B. Other Required Readings

Aside from the text of Chaucer’s works, most, if not all, of the readings you’ll be responsible for are on pages on the WorldWide Web. These are important; the fact that they are not in "book" form doesn’t mean they are not just as required as the Chaucer texts themselves.

These texts and illustrations will help familiarize you with certain medieval philosophical, aesthetic and critical concepts, as well as some modern critical approaches to medieval literature. They are just as much "required reading" as the texts of Chaucer's works.

If it becomes necessary for me to photocopy articles or other materials for you, I will ask you to reimburse me, so that I can repay the English Department. Budget cuts have made it impossible to use the Xerox copier for free any more.

2. The Course

This course will introduce you to the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, for centuries acknowledged as the greatest literary figure of late medieval England. Chaucer lived at a time of rapid social and literary change, and had a wide experience of life and of reading. This makes his literature very allusive, historically rich, and critically fascinating.

I intend to make this a course on critical approaches and on research methods, and to carry it out as a ‘distance-learning’ course as much as possible. Naturally, you can come in to see me any time during my office hours, and by special arrangement with me at other times. We can also speak by telephone. But we will normally communicate by e-mail and IRC (Internet Relay Chat, real-time chat on the Internet).

3. Format of Class

Since this is an Independent Study class, we won’t have "classes" as such, though you and I will be in touch with each other regularly.

Assignments.

1. An Annotated Bibliography of critical articles. "Annotated" means a summary of, and comment upon, the article in question, which should be listed in standard MLA bibliographical format at the beginning.

2. A number of assignments, to be emailed to me according to the format described here..

3. Two reports, one on each of two works by Chaucer. These should be researched, and about 1500 words in length. Details of the format will be available on our course’s Home Page.

4. An individual research project. This should be an expanded, in-depth paper of which the contribution to the group presentation is a preliminary draft. It should be 10-12 pages (2500- 3000 words) in length, in standard MLA research-paper format. It should also be emailed to me.

I will provide detailed instructions about the research project, and how to email it to me, in link on our Home Page.

Work in Sprague Library or some other academic library will be an extremely important part of this course.

Work in a Research Library. In addition, you will have to go to some nearby research libraries -- at least one of them --to gain access to some of the articles and books which you will want to consult, but which are not in Sprague Library.

I’ll provide instruction about how to search the catalogs of these libraries – both of Sprague Library and of the major research libraries in this area (and, for that matter, around the country and around the world) in a link on our course’s Home Page.

Please do not check any books out of Sprague Library on the subject of this course. Instead, when you find a useful book, bring the AUTHOR, TITLE, and LIBRARY CALL NUMBER to me, and I will put it on reserve for this class. This is to make sure that everyone in the class can consult the relatively few books on this subject that the library possesses.

The Reference and Inter-Library Loan librarians of Sprague Library can also be a valuable resource for your research.

In Sprague we will mainly be working with the MLA Bibliography, available on CD-ROM readers (as well as in hard copy).

5. Attendance

Since this is largely a web-based course, there will be no attendance as such. Since you do not attend classes, your reading and writing load is correspondingly heavier than it would be if you were attending an in-class course. In addition, we will have periodic (regular but infrequent) scheduled conferences. Naturally, you can email me for additional conferences, outside the regular schedule of them, any time you wish, and I will make arrangements convenient to both of us so we can get into contact.

6. Exams.

There will be no examinations as such. I will grade you on the following:

your short assignments;
your two reports
your research project.

7. Office Hours

My office hours are MT 10:00 to 10:50, and R 11-11:50 in DI-325 , office phone (973)655-7305.

BUT, the easiest and recommended way to contact me is by e-mail. Please put your LAST NAME and the initials CH first on the "Subj:" line of any e-mail message you send me.