Mon Oct 23 13:25:24 1995
From: Sarah Kelen (sak10\@columbia.edu)
I particularly like the final move this paper makes in noting that medieval
studies is an, but not the only, available point from which to interrogate
the grand narratives of periodization.

Unlike Nancy Partner who deems the "medieval" the "really early
modern," I prefer to annoy "early modernists" by classifying their field
of study as the "late late medieval."

This kind of naming could of course be extended infinitely, and in fact I
think it should be. Thus every period becomes some kind of "medieval."
As we know, the "medieval" is one of the last true categories of
(a scorned) alterity (the "Byzantine" shares this honor)--medieval studies
is thus by its nature alien.

Far from discouraging this opinion, we should be encouraging it, because
the same students who find _Beowulf_ boring because they can't "relate"
to it are somehow convincing themselves that they *can* relate to
_The Great Gatsby_ or _The Bluest Eye_. But the "relevance" of these
texts is just as constructed as the irrelevance of the more historically,
ideologically, culturally distant middle ages, and it misrepresents the
texts it embraces as much as those it rejects.

Thu Oct 26 07:59:02 1995
From: Jeffrey Cohen
It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that Nancy Partner conceptualizes the medieval period *as* the modern period (because early early modern, early modern, and modern all mean the same thing, really). What I mean is, for Nancy certain universals at every time hold true, and these are the great psychoanalytic structurations as explicated by Freud. I find her work challenging and always well-argued, even if I disagree with its embrace of universalism.

For a long time I thought the Middle Ages might be designated as the Premodern (in an embrace of its own alterity) .. but of course if there's one thing that cultural studies teaches us, it's not to rely upon demarcations that are merely temporal, which tend to set in motion an illusionary chain of cause and effect.

Sun Feb 11 12:26:39 1996
From:
I find this article useful in establishing the basis for cross-epochal approaches in teaching Chaucer at the secondary level. Chaucer has been criticized for offering little or nothing to female students. The Prioress is a bigoted prig. The Wife of Bath is a libertine. Where do we go from there?
My response is to point out that the Wife of Bath's lament is a protest of the double standard. Considering the puritanical public morals in our society, it is professionally risky for a male teacher to pursue the good Wife's argument in class. A more prudent alternative is to cross periods, allowing girls to run with the subject,
threading their own way through biographies of the Tudor women, of Anne Bolyn, then, with a considerable jump, to Jane Austen, who turns the tables on men writing about women.
Your article gives depth to the post-modern, (which, considering the new humanism, has lately become passe), and lends new immediacy to the enduring values in traditional literature. Your thinking is a bridge between warring philosophical and critical camps. Thanks.

Sun Feb 11 12:28:39 1996
From:
I find this article useful in establishing the basis for cross-epochal approaches in teaching Chaucer at the secondary level. Chaucer has been criticized for offering little or nothing to female students. The Prioress is a bigoted prig. The Wife of Bath is a libertine. Where do we go from there?
My response is to point out that the Wife of Bath's lament is a protest of the double standard. Considering the puritanical public morals in our society, it is professionally risky for a male teacher to pursue the good Wife's argument in class. A more prudent alternative is to cross periods, allowing girls to run with the subject,
threading their own way through biographies of the Tudor women, of Anne Bolyn, then, with a considerable jump, to Jane Austen, who turns the tables on men writing about women.
Your article gives depth to the post-modern, (which, considering the new humanism, has lately become passe), and lends new immediacy to the enduring values in traditional literature. Your thinking is a bridge between warring philosophical and critical camps. Thanks.

Thu Feb 29 23:00:02 1996
From: Anjanette Scribner (ascribne\@stdntmail.lmu.edu)
I'm a psyche major so I really can't comment on historical theory,
however I am taking a class on society and culture of the middle ages
and need a research topic. This paper gave me an idea about the roots
of western modernity beginning in the high middle ages. Without the
international commerce expansion that appeared at this time, where
would we be today?

If Mr. Stein has any advice for my research paper,
please e-mail me at the above address before April 1996. Thanks.

Wed Mar 6 13:38:07 1996
From: Dana Lundgren dlundgr6\@dingo.cusd.chico.ca.us
I thought that this paper had a lot of information. My class is
researching the middle ages and this helped me a lot.

Wed Mar 6 19:10:48 1996
From: bwallace\@shasta-co.k12.ca.us
This is a very educational paper. In History
right know we are studing MEDIVIAL
TIMES this helped me a lot.
Ty Wallace
Redding CA