Aims

Thorough analysis of one or several works of an author in the fields of ancient or middle French starting from preserved manuscripts.

with the aim :
- of refining the students' analytical mind in connection with the modern critical editions of medieval texts;
- of making the students aware of the material and textual aspects of the French literary manuscripts (graphic variants and corrections in the case of autograph manuscripts ; relation between the text and the iconographic program; textual organisation of the manuscript according to the dedications, etc.);
- of opening the students to a innovative critical approach based on the link between the text, the author and the manuscript in both states of language.

Main themes

The course's aim is the study of literary texts from medieval authors in order to bring to the fore the process and motivations for the genesis of the work through the critical approach of the manuscripts.

Content and teaching methods

Like the courses ROM 2250 and ROM 2260, this course aims at perfecting the education in French medieval literature through the internal and external detailed study of an author's work starting from manuscripts (alternatively old and middle French). Ex cathedra course structured round two axes :
- methodological approach: relations (in a historical and critical viewpoint) between critical editions and their manuscripts;
- approach of a literary corpus (alternatively old and middle French): starting from manuscripts bringing out the implication of the author in the esthetical and material elaboration of his work but also through this defining the process of the genesis of a work and an author's literary personality.

Finally, it will be possible to illustrate the ex cathedra courses by a few hours of coming in touch with the manuscripts of the studied texts, preserved at the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisites: the students will have to have some knowledge of the language and the principles of edition
Evaluation: oral exam.
Course materials: bibliography, digital reproductions, course on line.
Opening: ROM ; GLOR, HIST, ARKE (after examining the file of the courses followed by the student in BAC).

Other credits in programs