David Raybin
Eastern Illinois University
600 Lincoln Avenue
Charleston, IL 61920
Phone: (217) 581-6980
Fax: (217) 581-7209
Email: draybin@eiu.edu
Tentative Schedule of Readings and Special Events
Method and Schedule
Over the course of the seminar, the group will read the General Prologue and the twenty verse tales in the order in which they appear in the fifteenth-century Ellesmere Manuscript and in standard editions of the Canterbury Tales, with sessions devoted to either one long tale or two short ones. We will generally hold four three-hour seminar sessions per week, supplementing these morning sessions with occasional field trips to medieval sites. The seminar’s work will be done in the way we have found to be most effective: through deliberative close reading of the tales in Chaucer’s Middle English, with a focus on significant passages and engaged discussion of the issues raised in them.
Assignments, Consultations, and Individual Projects
Participants will keep a journal/portfolio in which they respond to each day’s assignments and discussions. In addition, each participant will be required to produce a final project that may take the form of a critical essay, a teaching website, a creative response, a teaching unit, a syllabus, a recording, or a scholarly project. We hope to distribute copies of these projects to all participants shortly after the close of the seminar.
We will schedule two individual consultations with each participant, once during the first three days of the seminar, and again toward the end of the seminar. One or both of us will be available for regular office hours each afternoon.
London
Sun. June 22
9-12:
Arrival in London, settling in to lodging at Queen Mary, University of London
5:30:
Welcome Dinner
Mon. June 23
9-12:
Introductory Session
2-4:
Campus Orientation
Tues. June 24
9-12:
General Prologue
2-5:
Tour of London Chaucer Sites
Wed. June 25
9-12:
General Prologue
Thurs. June 26
9-12:
Knight's Tale
Fri. June 27
9-5:
Oxford Day Trip
Sat. June 28
FREE WEEKEND
Sun. June 29
FREE WEEKEND
Mon. June 30
9-12:
Miller's Tale, Reeve's Tale, Cook's Tale
Tues. July 1
9-12:
Man of Law's Tale
2-5:
Tour of London Medieval Sites
Wed. July 2
9-12:
Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
Thurs. July 3
9-12:
Friar's Tale, Summoner's Tale
2-5:
Tour of London Medieval Sites
Fri. July 4
9-12:
Clerk's Tale
12-4:
July Fourth Picnic
Sat. July 5
FREE WEEKEND
Sun. July 6
FREE WEEKEND
Mon. July 7
9-12:
Merchant's Tale
Tues. July 8
9-12:
Squire's Tale, Franklin's Tale
Wed. July 9
9-12:
Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale
Evening at the Theatre?
Thurs. July 10
9-12:
Shipman’s Tale, Prioress’s Tale, Tale of Sir Thopas
Fri. July 11
9-5:
Mini-coach to Canterbury, with stops along Chaucer' pilgrims' route
Sat. July 12
FREE WEEKEND
Sun. July 13
FREE WEEKEND
Canterbury
Mon. July 14
9-12:
Nun’s Priest’s Tale, Second Nun’s Tale
2-3:
Campus Orientation
Tues. July 15
9-12:
Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, Manciple’s Tale
Visit to Canterbury Cathedral
Wed. July 16
9-5:
Walk on the Pilgrim’s Way, with recitation of Parson’s Prologue
