Studying at York
Chaucer, Arabic Learning, & the East - MST00075M
- Department: Centre for Medieval Studies
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
Module summary
Geoffrey Chaucer’s expansive literary imaginative can take a reader from Persian Babylonia to Muslim Syria and Mongol Sarai, and across crusading arenas that stretch from the Baltic to North Africa and Southern Spain via England, France, Italy. In addition to such places, we also encounter Persian polymaths, Arab philosophers and North African translators, all of whom became the standard bearers of knowledge in Latin Christendom and whose writings, which developed within and across Islamic world(s), had a profound influence on western medieval learning and culture, including Chaucer’s poetry and prose. This module will introduce students to the multiple and variegated connections between late medieval England and the medieval Islamic world(s) with a focus on Arabic learning and Chaucer’s literature. It will explore how, and in what ways, medieval English literature used, adapted and transformed scientific and philosophical ideas translated and developed in the Islamic world(s).
Each week, we will explore a different facet of Arabic scientific and philosophical learning (medicine, astronomy/astrology, natural philosophy, alchemy, mathematics and optics) paired with a text by Chaucer. In putting medieval scientific and philosophical texts by Arabic and Latin scholars (read in English translation) in dialogue with Middle English poetry, we will endeavour to ask how did writers from different geographical, religious and cultural perspectives conceive the physical body and mind? How did they represent disease and cures? In what ways was this influenced by conceptions of the natural world and the cosmos? How, where, and why does Chaucer use such ‘Arabic science’ in his poetry and how might it influence his depiction of love, loss and the cosmos? We will also turn to theoretical considerations of the representation of Islam, the ‘East’ and medieval orientalism. While focused on Chaucer, in some seminars we will extend discussion to Arabic literature, including the 1001 Nights; other canonical poets interested and influenced by the ‘East’ including Boccaccio and Dante, and poets writing in the age of Chaucer, such as John Gower and William Langland.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
The aim of the module is to introduce students to cultural and intellectual connections between England and the Islamic world(s) in the medieval period; to develop knowledge of the role of Arabic, Islam and translation in the history of medieval science; to develop understanding of Chaucer’s poetry through the perspective of the history of science and philosophy; and to examine critical and theoretical considerations of the representations of the ‘East’ in medieval writings, both literary and scientific.
Module learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:
- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with Chaucer’s literature, both poetry and prose and a range of medieval scientific and philosophical texts.
- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with interdisciplinary content and methodologies.
- Evaluate key debates within the relevant critical fields dealing with the history of science and literature, medieval orientalism, Chaucer’s scientific imagination, and Chaucer and Islam.
- Produce independent arguments and ideas which demonstrate an advanced proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
Module content
The module aims to place a western, canonical poet in dialogue with non-western writings, ideas and concepts. In doing so, the primary material will include texts originally written in Arabic (read in modern English translation) by figures who are Arab, Persian, North African, Muslim, Christian and Jewish.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required.
Indicative reading
Texts will include Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The House of Fame, and Treatise on the Astrolabe. We will also read excerpts from a range of Arabic scientific and philosophical texts (all read in modern English translation) including Ibn al-Sina (Avicenna) Canon of Medicine, Mash’Allah (Messahallah) On the Construction and Use of an Astrolabe; Ibn al-Tamimi al-Sheikh (Senior) Letter to the Sun and the Moon; Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) Book on Optics.