Literature and the Factors of Cultural Change

FAIN: FF-10316-74

University of Wisconsin, Madison (Madison, WI 53715-1218)
Jerome Taylor (Project Director: January 1974 to present)

To understand the shift in social and human values that occurred in England between 1350 and 1525--a shift evident in changed economic, political and religious institutions and in a redirected moral-behavioral psychology, and observable in the subsequent development and expansion of Europe and in ongoing problems of our day and our society. 7 key works of literature will be examined to illustrate this change--works by Langland, Gower, Chaucer, Malory, Deloney, More and Towneley will be read. The aim will be to see how such history and literature can be presented to college youth as a collective experience having, beyond its historical importance, an immediate personal and social value.