David Mycoff's Homepage
Site Contents, Disclaimer, Links Menu
Welcome.
This homepage contains a little information about me and my
background, rather more information about the courses that I
teach at Warren Wilson
College, several internet links to websites relevant
to my courses or to other matters important to me, and an on-line syllabi for several courses. No views expressed in or implied by
anything on this homepage are necessarily those of Warren Wilson College or any
official thereof. See the college's personal webpage disclaimer. I
will, however, be glad to try to answer any questions you might have about the
academic programs of the English Department
or the Humanities
Major or to direct you to someone else who can. Just drop an email to David Mycoff.
Links
Menu
- Medieval and Renaissance Studies
- Chaucer
- Dante
- Shakespeare
- Opera and Other Vocal Music Genres
- Conscientious Objection
- Other Peace, Justice, and Nonviolence Sites
- Bible and Theology Sites useful to
literature and humanities students.
- Visual Art and Language one website,
"The Classic Text" that examines relationships between art and
literature through an exhibition of illustrated editions of several
canonical or "classic" texts.
- A guide for citing internet sources.
- ON-LINE SYLLABUS for English 335,
Medieval Life and Literature. (Contains live links to manuscripts,
artworks, texts, and the like.)
- ON-LINE SYLLABUS for English 130,
Scriptural and Doctrinal Backgrounds.
- ON-LINE
SYLLABUS for English 336,
Literature and Culture of the Renaissance.
- ON-LINE
SYLLABUS for English Honors Seminar, 2000
- Course Policies
- Short excerpt, "Philosophical Contexts:
Renaissance Platonism," from the draft of my teaching edition of Astrophil
and Stella.
A Little About Me
I was born and raised in West Virginia, received my BA degree from
Washington and Lee University and my MA and Ph.D. from the University of
Rochester. After teaching in the Rochester City Schools and at the U of R,
Monroe Community College, and West Virginia Institute of Technology, I came to
Warren Wilson College in 1986. If you want to see a reasonably current version
of my official resumé (academics call it a curriculum vitae)
click here.
I chair the Humanities Major
Committee and teach in the English Department,
where my primary responsibilities include expository writing, Medieval and
Renaissance literature and culture, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. I also teach a
first-year seminar, Classical and Modern Theatre (team-taught with the chair of
the Theatre Department), African-American Writings, Opera as Drama (team-taught
with the chair of the Music Department), an interdisciplinary course in
Medieval Islamic Culture, and a Warren Wilson World Wide
course called North Italian Renaissance and Reformation, which includes a field
component in Northern Italy. You can find descriptions of these and other
courses under Courses.
Medieval
and
Renaissance
Studies
Links
ˇ See
separate links lists for Chaucer, Dante,
and Shakespeare.
ˇ ORB-Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
Copious bibliographies, internet
sites with links, and other resources for all areas of Medieval Studies.
ˇ The Internet Medieval
Sourcebook
Copious bibliographies, internet
sites with links, and other resources for all areas of Medieval Studies.
ˇ The Labyrinth."Innumeras
vias."
You must check this one
out. The "Arthurian Studies" link is particularly helpful.
ˇ Women
Writers of the Middle Ages.
Electronic texts, links,
informative articles, bibliographies, images.
Index of book reviews, essays,
journal articles dealing with women and sexuality in the Middle Ages.
ˇ World Wide Web
Medieval Resources.
good links to websites,
electronic texts, images.
Electronic texts of Middle
English writings.
ˇ Online Classical and Medieval
Library.
Electronic texts.
ˇ ClassicalNet's
Classical Music Informational Sites.
Click the section for Early
Music.
ˇ International Center of Medieval Art
Links Page.
Live links to many exhibitions.
Links to excellent sources for
images.
ˇ University of Toronto
Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies.
An essential source for the
period. Gook links to databases and libraries.
Electronic editions of publications
in English, 1477-1799.
Chaucer Links
Links to electronic texts of The
Canterbury Tales, contextual materials, commentaries, and more.
Some authorities call this the
most nearly complete listing of internet Chaucer resources. If you get a
"this device cannot play" prompt, just click it, and the non-audio
materials will continue.
ˇ Chaucer: An Annotated Guide to Online
Resources.
A good starting-place for
exploring Chaucer on the net.
Enough but not too much.
Primarily The Canterbury
Tales.
ˇ For
illustrations, see also the pertinent sections of the website listed above as The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretation.
Dante
Links
Bibliographies, links, and other
Dante resources, including internet accessible illustrations of Dante's works
and other visual art inspired by Dante.
- Homepage for Dante
Studies An astounding wealth of resources, including bibliographies
and internet links. An extensive section on Dante's reception in music
gives extensive discographies with internet links.
- Dante
Alighieri: A Guide to Online Resources.
Enough but not too much.
Multimedia environment for
studying Inferno.
- For illustrations, see
also the pertinent sections of the website listed above as The
Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretation.
Shakespeare Links
Electronic edition.
This site attempts "to be a
complete annotated guide to scholarly Shakespeare resources available on the
Internet." It does a pretty good job of it.
Click on the "To be or not
to be" quotation in order to get into this fine site, maintained by Britannica.
Photographic tour of the
restored Globe in London.
Official website of the restored
Globe theater, incluces historical material on Elizabethan playhouses,
discussion of the reconstruction project, and information about visits, tours,
and performances.
Enough but not too much.
- For illustrations, see
also the pertinent sections of the website listed above as The
Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretation.
Some Bible and
Theology Websites
Searchable online texts of
several English translations of the Bible (NIV, NASB, RSV, KJV, Darby, YLT, and
World English) and translations in nine other languages as well.
More than you will ever use
unless you are the next Walter Brueggemann.
Electronic texts, informative
articles, links.
Excellent links, especially to
sites with electronic texts of sometimes difficult to obtain materials.
Opera and Other
Vocal Genres
Theater and musical events,
including but not limited to opera, for the two week periods throughout
Britain.
Official homepage for the Lyrica
Society for Word-Music Relations, provides extensive bibliography and links for
materials pertaining to relationships between language and music in opera, art
song, oratorio, choral music, and other vocal forms. Materials on narrative and
music.
Performance histories, synopses,
libretti, discographies, and links. Information on opera companies as well.
Click the section for Opera,
Choral, and Vocal Music.
Over 90 links, commercial and
otherwise, from the stodgy to the weird.
A very wide range of composers
and poets in several languages is included.
'The largest reference source
for European Medieval Music on the web." Informative, introductory
articles, discographies, links to sources for recordings, scores, and
performances.
Guide to Citing Internet Sources
Style guide to citing online resources
used by Columbia University Press.
Visual Art and Language
This site records a special
exhibition at the Rare Books Department of the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Golda Meir Collection. The exhibition investigated
relationships between visual art and language by examining how several
canonical literary texts have been presented to the public through the ages,
particularly through the agency of the illustrated book. Such presentation is
seen as an important part of the process through which a text becomes defined
as a cultural classic. Represented are the Bible, Homer, Aristophanes, Virgil,
Ovid, Saint Augustine, Dante, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Cooper,
Hawthorne, Stowe, and Joyce.
Conscientious
Objection
Practical information pertaining
to conscientious objection to selective service; relevant legislation pending;
discussion of broader philosophical issues; other resources.
In addition to information about
the draft, CCCO provides information to people already enlisted in the armed
forces on such matters as discharges, discrimination, and harassment. The
organization also works to eliminate Junior ROTC programs from public high
schools. Many links to other resources.
Advocacy for legislation
enabling conscientious objectors to war to have their federal income taxes
directed to a special fund to be used for nonmilitary purposes only.
Other Peace Organizations
"On either side of the
river stood a tree of life, which yields twelve crops of fruit, one for each
month of the year, and the
leaves of the tree are for the healing of nations." Rev. 22:3.
|
Website of the well-known Quaker
service agency: service opportunities; many links to peace and justice
resources.
Interdenominational advocacy organization
devoted to hunger issues, domestic and international.
Ongoing medical aid and
education programs operated by health care professionals and other laypersons
on a volunteer basis. Programs in Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Haiti,
Domincan Republic, Russia, and Uganda.
Advocates for the protection of
the world's refugees and seeks to provide some with the protection afforded by
third country resettlement.
Oldest faith-based peace
organization in the United States, umbrella organization for several groups,
affiliated with International Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Legislative updates and other
advocacy resources.
Service opportunities and other resources
for numerous domestic and international relief, service, community development,
and peacemaking programs.
Legislative updates and other
advocacy resources.
Community in Israel jointly
established by Jews and Palestinian Arabs that conducts a School for Peace and
a Children's Educational System.
Especially copious materials on
conflict in Yugoslavia and the Balkans generally.
Roman Catholic peace fellowship.
Local chapter of a national
network of citizens engaged in peacemaking , activism, and peace education.
Main relief agency for the
Episcopal Church USA, supporting both international and domestic projects.
Includes links to other relief agencies.
Faith-based social action center
in Washington, DC. Its programs include Quest for Peace (aid and development
programs in Nicaragua), Nicaragua Cultural Alliance (art work by Nicaraguan
artists: proceeds support the artists and Quest for Peace programs), Haiti
Reborn (support for grassroots efforts to eliminate military repression and
restore democracy), Priests for Equality (works for full participation of women
and men in church and society), Equal Justice USA (supports various reforms of
the justice system, including abolition of the death penalty), Catholics Speak
Out (facilitates dialogue between Roman Catholic laity and hierarchy).
Works for closing of the US Army
School of the Americas and its programs of training Central and South American
government forces in "counter-insurgency" warfare. Warren Wilson
students and staff have been particularly involved in this organization's
activities. There is also a website for the local chapter, WNC SOAWatch.
This organizations works through
a network of local food banks to collect and distribute food and other grocery
products and to educate the public about domestic hunger issue. Asheville's
Manna Food Bank, located a few miles from Warren Wilson College, has several
contacts with the college through the Service Learning Program and otherwise.
Combats hate, intolerance, and
discrimination through education and litigation.
Courses
- Warren Wilson World Wide: North Italian Renaissance and
Reformation.This course combines an intensive study of major trends in the
art, literature, music, politics, and religious culture of the North of
Italy from about 1300 to about 1689 with a two-week field course in
Northern Italy. To give a center of gravity, so to speak, to this wide and
diverse body of material, and to tie in with the place where we spend the
longest period of the field course, we focus particularly on the history
and culture of the Waldensian In Italy, we visit Milan, its astonishing
cathedral, fine art galleries, and spectacular Sforza Castle--all good
sites for exploring the interplay of art, politics, and religion for the
period on which we concentrate. We spend nine days in the North Italian
Alps in the village of Torre Pellice, the historic heart of the Waldensian
people. Students study a little modern conversational Italian and conduct
informal presentations and conversations with students studying English
language at the local Waldensian high school. Field trips include visits
to a number of historical sites in the mountains and involve some
wonderful Alpine hiking and scenery. We also go to nearby towns and
cities, such as Saluzzo, with its beautiful medieval villas and churches,
their external and internal frescoes still intact, and the great center of
Piedmontese culture, Turin.. We also participate in a small service
project at one of the Waldensian historic sites. For information on the
Warren Wilson World Wide program, click here.
ˇ
First Year Seminar. Page to Stage: Classical and
Contemporary Theater. This course, which I team teach with Graham Paul, chair
of the Theatre Department and director of the college theatre, combines
literary study and practical theatre. We focus on several plays, some of them
from the past and some of them contemporary. (For instance, in the seminar
offered during Fall Semester of 2000, we studied Sophocles, Antigone;
Fugard, The Island; Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Stoppard, The Real
Thing; Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Bennett, Habeas Corpus.)
Students read the plays, discuss the readings, write papers (five or six short
papers), act or direct in selected scenes from the plays, and propose designs
for costumes, staging, sets, or lighting. I think that the course is an
excellent introduction to college-level study, for it helps build critical
reading skills, writing skills, public speaking skills and poise, and
collaborative working skills.
ˇ
English 130. Scriptural and Doctrinal Backgrounds
to (Western) Culture. This course combines a condensed and selective Bible as
Literature course with an introductory overview of some of the main questions,
problems, and approaches of Christian thought. We read selections of the King
James Bible, sometimes comparing them to versions in modern translations. We
also study later literary works in which authors in some way are responding to
some issue in scripture or theology. I try to present a range of literary works
from different periods, though most of what we read comes from the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. We also study music, paintings and other visual art,
and sometimes films that respond to the primary texts.
ˇ
English 155. Introduction to Poetry.Introduction
to close reading of lyric poetry in English, with ample practice and skill
development, both in class and in writing. I give some attention to formal
prosodic analysis and to oral interpretation, and I include some introductory
study of art song settings of English poetry.
ˇ
English 270. African-American Writings.
Introductory study of selected African-American writings (verse, drama,
fiction, and non-fictional prose) from colonial times to the present.
ˇ
Music 280. Opera as Drama. I team-teach this course
with Steven Williams, chair of the Music Department. We study selected operas
from various periods in their musical, dramatic, and literary aspects.
ˇ
Interdepartmental 316. Medieval Islamic
Culture.An overview of Islamic cultures from the time of Muhammad to the
beginnings of Ottoman hegemony, with special focus on an introductory reading
of the Qur'an and works of secular scholarship and literature. Readings in
modern English.
ˇ
English 335. Medieval Life and Literature.We
study the history of medieval ideas, cultures, and mentalities, focusing most
of our attention on seminal works of literature, philosophy, theology, mystical
speculation, ethics, and political theory (in modern English translation or
easy Middle English) , with some attention to music and visual art. I always
include a reading of all three cantiche of Dante's Divine Comedy.
ˇ
English 338. Literature and Culture of the
Renaissance.We study major representative works of sixteenth and seventeenth
century English literature as well as selected influential continental works
(in English translation)and works by major artists and musicians of the period.
ˇ
English 341. Shakespeare.We will study between
twelve and sixteen of Shakespeare's plays and read several relatively short
essays representing a range of modern Shakespeare scholarship and criticism.
Students will watch and critique one or two film productions of a Shakespeare
play and present lightly staged readings in class of selected scenes. The
course will also incorporate any Shakespeare stage productions locally
presented the semester.
ˇ
English 390 / 488. Junior / Senior English Honors
Seminar. Topic and instructors vary from year to year. The seminar that I most
recently conducted focused on Satire and Humor.
ˇ
Directed Independent Studies and Theses. I
particularly enjoy working with students on special directed study projects and
on Senior English Honors or Humanities theses. We use a British-style tutorial
format as much as possible. Here are some of the projects I've supervised in
recent years.
--Musical Settings of Walt Whitman's poetry (thesis)
--Theological Themes in the Paintings of Carol Bomer (thesis)
--Women's Spirituality in The Book of Margery Kempe (thesis)
--The Poetry of Adrienne Rich (thesis)
--The Poetry of Yeats (thesis)
--The Poetry of Wallace Stevens (thesis)
--Dante and Milton (one thesis and one directed study)
--Shakespeare and Feminist Criticism (two directed studies)
--Chaucer and Traditions of Late Medieval Narrative (directed study)
--English Poetry and the European Art Song Tradition (directed study)
--History of the Literature of Christian Spirituality (directed study)
--Theology in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (directed study)
Most of the theses are on file in the Warren Wilson College library.
Curriculum
Vitae
David A. Mycoff
Warren Wilson College
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., University of
Rochester, 1984
- M.A., University of
Rochester, 1977
- B.A., Washington and
Lee University, 1975
Postgraduate
continuing education
- NEH Summer Institute,
Educating a Citizenry: Thomas Jefferson and Education. Six-week institute
offered jointly by The College of William and Mary and the University of
Virginia. June-July, 1993.
- Canterbury Course.
(Six-credit intensive course in Anglican history and theology offered
jointly by the Duke University Divinity School and the Dean and Chapter of
Canterbury Cathedral). July-August, 1995.
- Shakespeare in Text
and Performance. Workshop / conference in Shakespeare pedagogy employing
both scholarship and practical performance, jointly offered by the
Shakespeare Institute and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company,
Stratford-upon-Avon. July, 1997.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Full-time faculty,
Warren Wilson College, July 1986-present.
- Assistant Professor,
West Virginia Institute of Technology. August 1984-July 1986.
- Instructor,
part-time, University of Rochester, 1977-1984.
- Adjunct Instructor,
Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY. Winter Semester, 1984.
- Visiting Adjunct,
Monroe High School, Rochester City Schools, Winter Semester, 1983.
- Assistant for Writing
Evaluation, Graduate Program in Public Policy Analysis, Departments of
Economics and Political Science, University of Rochester, 1983-1984.
HONORS
- University of
Rochester Department of English Graduate Student Teaching Award
- Z. Smith Reynolds
Foundation Teaching Excellence Award
PUBLICATIONS (as of 3/24/98)
- Annotated Translation
and Commentary: The Life of Saint Mary Magdalene and of Her Sister Saint Martha:
A Medieval Biography. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications/Western
Michigan University, 1987. Cistercian Studies Series # 108.
- Annotated Critical
Edition and Commentary: A Critical Edition of the Legend of Mary Magdalena
from Caxton's Golden Legende of 1483. Salzburg, Austria: Institut fur
Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universitat Salzburg, 1985. Salzburg Studies
in English Literature: Elizabethan and Renaissance Studies. 92:11.
Articles:
- "The Legend of
Mary Magdalene in a Twelfth-Century Cistercian Context." Cistercian
Studies 4 (1988): 310-18.
- "Two Sources of
Osbern Bokenham's 'Lyf of Maye Maudelyn.'" Notes and Queries. 32.2.
(Sept. 1985): 310-12.
At
Publisher's:
- Annotated Critical
Bibliography, in Collaboration with R.F. Yeager, University of North
Carolina, Asheville: The Chaucer Bibliographies: Second Nun's Tale through
Retractions. University of Toronto Press. (This book has been in galley
proof for over two years, and I am uncertain whether the series in which
is was to appear will be continued.)
In
Progress:
- Annotated Teaching
Edition: Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella: A Modern-Spelling
Edition.
Conference
Papers:
- Saint Mary Magdalene
in Cistercian Context. Delivered at the 22nd International Congress on
Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, 1987.
- Political Dimensions
of High Medieval Hagiography: St. Dionysius, St. Mary Magdalene, and the
Evangelization of Gaul. Delivered at the Clinch Valley College of the
University of Virginia Conference on Medieval Studies, 1987.
- Contexts of Discourse
in Saint Bernard's Sermons on the Song of Songs. Delivered at the 23rd
International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University,
1988.
- The Monstrous and the
Holy in Caesarius of Heisterbach and Others. Delivered at the 24th
International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University,
1989.
Informal
Public Lecture:
- What to Listen for in
As You Like It: Music for a Shakespeare Comedy (Public lecture delivered
at Pack Place Center for the Arts, October 24, 1997, in conjunction with
performances by the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival Company.