Chaucer and the Birth of the Author

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject explores the complex role of the vernacular writer in medieval society, amid changes in the late medieval conception of authorship. The works of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tale and other earlier poems) will be our main focus, but we will also consider the work of other medieval writers, and some of Chaucer's contemporaries and followers, across a range of genres, from romance to spiritual narrative and political satire. This subject will introduce students to reading Middle English, but several texts will also be read in Modern English translation.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• apply new research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;

• develop critical self-awareness and shape and strengthen persuasive arguments;

• communicate arguments and ideas effectively and articulately, both in writing and to others.

Formerly 106-053 Chaucer and the Canon. Students who have completed 106-053 Chaucer and the Canon are not eligible to enrol in this subject.