Do I want to study medieval literature?

[phantasmagorovich]

If it's just a course or two to bolster your knowledge it's definitely worth it. It was mandatory to study medieval german literature if you took a german lit master at my Uni, and after getting the hang of it it was really interesting. It is a VERY deep subject though and as such a couple of courses can only scratch the surface. And a lot depends upon the teachers. I had a couple that were good and applied more modern theory to the subject and that made it interesting. But the more traditional teachers were horrible. It was a lot of guesswork with them and mostly it did not seem plausible at all. (I'm talking interpretation here.)
Those guys were much more modern than you might think, they were not at all like you'd imagine a knight. Finding out about that has given me a new perspective about humanity and about culture. So for me it was definitely something that widened my horizon immensely.

Is there a troubadour tradition in english spoken countries?

[fiddelerselbow]

I did a good bit of it during my undergrad, is there anything in particular you want to study? I really enjoyed Chaucer and did my dissertation on Kingship in early modern British drama. Not quite medieval but some of those plays were fucking amazing.

To be honest, if you have an interest in it go for it. If you enjoy it you'll put the work in.

[wafl]

Thoust must becometh a Wizard! Spouteth thine unholy incantations whence thine mouth:!!!:

[HorseyBoy]

I did a bit of medieval literature at uni (Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" and all that) and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. It's also a really good excuse to watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" over and over again, which ain't a bad thing…

[Iommic Pope]

Ok, you guys are convincing me.
It is just one course, so it won't be too in depth.
My only reservations are my energy levels. Having a 3 and 1 year old is depleting them ,along with work, and I kinda wanted to devote some time to getting into better shape before I start full time Uni next year (Grad Dip, Education, gonna be full on). As well as maybe get back into a band situation.
But, when they say last chance to dance....

Fuck no.
Can expound, but really, not worth it unless you're into medieval sociology.

I actually want to hear your expanded reasoning here. I studied sociology as an undergrad and loved it, but as far as I'm aware, there's no medieval sociology class to complement this one. BUT, that would be the academic tits.

[goroth]

I've studied Medieval English, Beowulf up to Chaucer, and it was fun. If you can speak another Germanic language, or if you are interested in prosody then it's a lot easier, as both the language, pronunciation and the form has little to do with modern English poetry, and even less to do with modern English prose.

You can get copies of most works with a modern English translation, which works, but you miss a lot unless you're prepared to spend time on working out why certain things were written in a certain way, as the stories themselves often aren't that interesting for a modern reader devoid of their context.

If you're interested in teaching then there's always a value in understanding where modern English has come from.

[futuresailors]

the stories themselves often aren't that interesting for a modern reader devoid of their context.

Basically my point. Assuming your class is anything like the ones I've taken, the basic format is read section>teacher tells you about historical context>read section>teacher tells you how it's been referenced ad nauseam>repeat. If you're unlucky it'll be like in highschool where they make you read it and translate it into modern English.

So it's cool if you want to learn about the historical context (spoiler: they were scared of everything), or if you want to see (not necessarily learn why) English progress into something intelligible (that part was kind of entertaining).

Devolution to minor rant:
But as literature it's really not that good. Academia's fetishized "the old" simply because it's old. Chaucer made fart jokes. Fine. Because he did it 600 years ago doesn't make them better objectively. Beowulf's a prototype for modern fantasy? Okay, doesn't that inherently mean modern fantasy refined it? You apply the whole "literature is a process and you have to learn it's roots" justification to anything else and it doesn't hold up. Making a cake is a process, but we don't put the worms that make it possible on a pedestal. Actually, my favorite is what they say about Shakespeare: it's still relevant today! 1. That's fucking depressing. 2. Any chance you're curriculum has a smattering of self-fulfilling prophecy?
tl:dr I don't like old stuff and find reading it counterproductive. And I say that as I lie in bed, dicking around on the interwebz.

[Greenfuz]

fart jokes are funny no matter when they are made

[futuresailors]

Exactly! Y U NO TEECH CONTEMPORARY FART JOKES KOLLEJ?

[Haki]

tl:dr I don't like old stuff and find reading it counterproductive. And I say that as I lie in bed, dicking around on the interwebz.

[D.o.S.]

the stories themselves often aren't that interesting for a modern reader devoid of their context.

Basically my point. Assuming your class is anything like the ones I've taken, the basic format is read section>teacher tells you about historical context>read section>teacher tells you how it's been referenced ad nauseam>repeat. If you're unlucky it'll be like in highschool where they make you read it and translate it into modern English.

So it's cool if you want to learn about the historical context (spoiler: they were scared of everything), or if you want to see (not necessarily learn why) English progress into something intelligible (that part was kind of entertaining).

Devolution to minor rant:
But as literature it's really not that good. Academia's fetishized "the old" simply because it's old. Chaucer made fart jokes. Fine. Because he did it 600 years ago doesn't make them better objectively. Beowulf's a prototype for modern fantasy? Okay, doesn't that inherently mean modern fantasy refined it? You apply the whole "literature is a process and you have to learn it's roots" justification to anything else and it doesn't hold up. Making a cake is a process, but we don't put the worms that make it possible on a pedestal. Actually, my favorite is what they say about Shakespeare: it's still relevant today! 1. That's fucking depressing. 2. Any chance you're curriculum has a smattering of self-fulfilling prophecy?
tl:dr I don't like old stuff and find reading it counterproductive. And I say that as I lie in bed, dicking around on the interwebz.

[bigchiefbc]

But as literature it's really not that good. Academia's fetishized "the old" simply because it's old. Chaucer made fart jokes. Fine. Because he did it 600 years ago doesn't make them better objectively. Beowulf's a prototype for modern fantasy? Okay, doesn't that inherently mean modern fantasy refined it? You apply the whole "literature is a process and you have to learn it's roots" justification to anything else and it doesn't hold up. Making a cake is a process, but we don't put the worms that make it possible on a pedestal. Actually, my favorite is what they say about Shakespeare: it's still relevant today! 1. That's fucking depressing. 2. Any chance you're curriculum has a smattering of self-fulfilling prophecy?
tl:dr I don't like old stuff and find reading it counterproductive. And I say that as I lie in bed, dicking around on the interwebz.

But Chaucer was really good at it. The Miller's Tale gave me a full-on guffaw the first time I read it.

As did Lysistrata, by the way. Read that if you think that 2500 year-old literature can't be really funny.

[Iommic Pope]

Thanks FS, that made a heap of sense. The course would most likely be structured in that way, going by what I could ascertain from the brief unit synopsis.
Well, basically, I've got tonight to make up my mind. But I had a huge conversation with my wife about it last night and she said, given the amount of stress and disruption my study caused to family life earlier in the year, and with the prospect of it being far worse next year looming overhead, she would prefer it if I didn't undertake it. Especially considering it is unnecessary.
So I'm probably not going to do it after all....unless I wake up tomorrow with a mad compulsion...
However, I am down for getting a reading list together for shits and giggles, as you dudes seem fairly well versed in some of this.

[futuresailors]

I was gonna offer you my textbook...
Single volume norton anthology. 5" of English Lit.
Could probably track down my old syllabus if you want to pretend to take the class.

[Iommic Pope]

Actually....that would be fucking cool!