Class Details

Class Number 14558

Tues., Thurs. 9:30-10:45

Jerome Richfield 303

Contact Details

Office: 803 Sierra Tower
Telephone: 677-0901
E-mail: scott.kleinman@csun.edu

Announcements

April 14, 2008

Essay 2 has been posted.

February 12, 2008

Read The Parliament of Fowls

Check here regularly!

Any changes to the schedule will be posted here.

Course Description

Chaucer is at once one of the greatest and the most dynamic of English poets. His best-known work, The Canterbury Tales, shows him as a master of narrative and of stylistic variety which has few rivals. His minor works focus on themes of particular interest in present-day criticism, such as the cultural formations embodied in the literary landscape, gender politics, and the workings of dreams and the imagination. In this course we will explore Chaucer’s most important themes and literary strategies by reading a selection of The Canterbury Tales and some of Chaucer’s shorter poems in his original Middle English. The scope of the course also embraces the study of Chaucer’s sources and literary analogues and will reflect on his influence on later writers.

Course Objectives

Students in this course will: