Spring
4
The frame tale—that is, a framing narrative depicting a series of oral storytelling performances by the frame’s characters—was popular throughout the medieval period and includes such well-known works as the Canterbury Tales, the Decameron, and Arabian Nights. This enormously flexible genre could encompass a vast range of story types, from saints lives and romances to beast fables and comic fabliaux. Through these and other story collections, this course explores the compelling power of storytelling in the middle ages and offers modern readers a rich and vibrant introduction to the diversity of the medieval world. All works are read in modern English translation. Limited to First Years and Sophomores only.