Medieval texts and manuscripts: a critical approach [ LROM2227 ]

Students shall be acquainted to the ancient language.

The course is devoted to the study of literary texts of medieval authors, by the means of a critical approach to manuscripts, in order to highlight the processes and motivations involved in the genesis of a literary work of the medieval period. It will try to instill a critical approach toward the object of study ; to introduce students to the weight of the normative tradition of the nineteeth and twentieth centuries in their approach to medieval texts, as well as to the necessity to recontextualize any literary work in its historic, economic and cultural contexts.

On the basis of the discipline's epistemology and of an in-depth analysis of the manuscript tradition of an author (ancient or middle French) :

- refine the student's spirit of analysis in relation to modern critical editions of medieval texts;

- increase the student's awareness in relation to the material and textual aspects of French literary manuscripts (graphic variants and corrections in the case of autograph manuscripts; the relationship between the text and its iconography; textual organization of manuscripts according to the dedicatee, etc.) ;

- to introduce students to a critical approach of medieval literature ;

- to initiate students to the innovating aspects of new philology.

Oral exam and research paper consisting in the critical analysis of a critical edition in ancient or middle french.

Lectures with a variety of teaching materials : reading extracts from works ; PowerPoint presentations

In the context of the research focus, this course is designed to complete students' training in medieval French literature through in-depth internal and external study of the work of an author based on manuscripts (Old or Middle French).

Based on knowledge of new philology and literary theory, the lectures have two main strands:

- methodological approach : to relate critical editions and their manuscript(s) (within a historical and critical perspective) ;

- literary corpus approach (Old or Middle French) : using manuscripts, to discover the involvement of the author in the aesthetic and material production of his work, thereby revealing the process of genesis of a work and the literary personality of an author.

Finally, the lectures are illustrated by several hours of contact with the manuscripts of the texts being studied which are held at the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique (autograph manuscripts of Christine de Pizan, original manuscripts of Watriquet de Couvin, etc.).

Updated annually ; see the course website on iCampus

Support : detailed syllabus ; bibliography ; numeric reproductions (available on iCampus).