Material / Texts

This class will introduce graduate students to the field of material texts and probe its expanding limits. Since the 1990s, study of the so-called “material text” has been a growing methodology in literary studies, particularly (though certainly not exclusively) in premodern and early modern fields. The “material text” is usually defined as the text plus the writing surface, binding, collocated texts, marginal jottings, illustrations, and any other paratexts that might accompany them: in other words, “the whole book.” The thesis of the study of material texts is that full understanding of literary works can only come about by taking these elements into account along with the text itself. This basic argument has generated a huge amount of productive scholarship that engages closely with manuscripts and printed matter, and it’s where our course will begin.

You may have noticed that the title of this course features a forward slash. In that forward slash is the thesis we will explore together for the bulk of the semester: that it is time for a more expansive definition of the “material text” that encompasses things that are, materially speaking, non-bookish. Yet many of these artefacts are part of the same bodies of narrative as the texts literary scholars lovingly appreciate. The course asks, then, how literary history is inflected by drawing on more expansive material as potential text. The test case for this question, which we will explore together, will be the corpus of medieval and early modern narrative tapestries. But you will be invited throughout the course to apply its methods to your own field of interest, particularly through your book review and your seminar paper. Moreover, though the course centers on medieval literature and textiles with inscriptions in English, French, and Latin, it also aims to instill the critical skills of literary criticism: debate, comparison, and keen-eyed evaluation of others’ arguments, both in class discussions and written assignments. 

Reading knowledge of (Old) French, Latin, and Middle English will come in handy, as will any other foreign language competencies – but these are not prerequisites.