Joy

For the past few months, since I started thinking about the Chaucer course (on The Canterbury Tales), I've been sort of thinking about Troilus and Criseyde.  Last year, for the first time, I taught Troilus and Cressida, and maybe that started it.

And then, a week or two ago, I got my Riverside Chaucer back from the binders.

At any rate, I decided the other day to reread Troilus.   I think it's been 25 years since I've read it, and then for an undergraduate level course. 

My marginal notes are exactly what you'd expect, full of misunderstandings and half understandings.  I was an unforgiving and dense 20 something, for sure.  I hope I've gotten better.

But damn, this is a hell of a poem, you know?

I've set myself a goal of about 10 pages a day (because I have lots of other stuff to do), and that's working out fine, though I fell a little behind yesterday.  Right now, I feel like I've forgotten whatever little I knew about reading Middle English, but I have some confidence that a few more days of reading will help bring things back to mind.

In other joyful news, I signed up for an on line course via Stanford in reading and working with manuscripts, and that started last night (and I started in, and "blame" that for falling behind with Troilus).  I didn't finish the first section of work, but did about three fourths of it.  I think I'm finding that the ringing makes concentrating for long periods more tiring.  Or maybe yesterday was just tiring?


I've got the original front (and back and side) piece(s) from my Riverside, and I'm thinking of framing it and using it as a bit of art.  I've always liked that front, and I'm sort of sad that the new cover doesn't have anything like that, but also glad that the new cover will probably last the rest of my career and then some.