Medieval Literature at McGill

Abstract

The Department of English at McGill University has recently lost two of its medievalists, one to early retirement and one to another institution (a decision made largely for personal reasons), and for several years has had no specialist in medieval drama. The Department now has only two full-time medievalists, with the result that its offerings in medieval literature have fallen off somewhat. A few years ago, the Department also made the effort to change all its courses to 3-credits. The 6-credit introductory course in Old English thereby fell away, as did student interest. However, we have managed to keep an Old English course going at the upper level, and a new, 300-level, 3-credit Introduction to Old English is being offered next year, in the hopes of being able to offer both the introductory course in Old English and the upper-level course as a follow-up. The Department over the past few years has maintained its offerings in Chaucer, as well as in other medieval topics (gender, religion, folklore, Arthurian tradition, and literary theory); this year we were able to put on Chaucer at both the undergraduate and graduate level, an Old English undergraduate course, and two upper-level undergraduate courses in Middle English literature (on allegory and on romance). We have approval to advertise for a position in Late Medieval/Early Renaissance, which we hope we will be able to fill next year. The Department now has a very strong Renaissance studies component (especially in Shakespeare), and we are hoping to boost our medieval offerings by creating a bridge with the Renaissance.