Episode 7: Prof. Rentz from Department of Literature
We are nearing the end of the semester, but the “Focus on Faculty” team continues its year-long project, now highlighting Associate Professor of Literature and Associate Dean for the Faculty for Curriculum Ellen Rentz. Her area of expertise is medieval literature, an interesting field the team hopes to shed some light on and inspire CMCers to interact with.
The interview with Professor Rentz began with some insights into her career path and more specifically, her connection to medieval literature. Professor Rentz was a theater major in college, and in her theater history class, she was first exposed to medieval literature. She recalled an assignment that required her to look up vague medieval literature terms in The Oxford Enligsh Dictionary. Unable to photocopy all of the necessary pages, she had to formulate an argument without knowing the meaning of several medieval literature terms.
Professor Rentz came to appreciate medieval literature through her engagement with medieval theater. She was fascinated by medieval drama’s ability to make “scathing social critiques.” Because she was so interested in medieval theater, she sought to learn about medieval literature more broadlyas well. This was due to her obligation as a student studying a premodern period: to find information in a variety of sources. Professor Rentz thinks of herself as a “medievalist” engaged in very “interdisciplinary inquiry,” which she admitted can sometimes be daunting.
Professor Rentz stated that she is drawn to medieval literature because medieval texts, many of which do not have known authors, “liberate” the reader to form an interpretation. It is up to the reader to use the information at their disposal to responsibly piece the stories together. While the process may sometimes feel speculative, it is important that the reader draw on outside research to understand the text at hand.
Fortunately, Professor Rentz brought (and read) to the team some medieval texts that she teaches in her courses. The first piece of text was a section of the prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale (c. 1387-1400), which uses Middle English and exhibits a strong French influence. Professor Rentz’s reading of this piece was truly captivating, demonstrating how important it is that students hear medieval texts as they are written. Professor Rentz described this piece as Chaucer’s “experiment” with taking on the first-person perspective of a female character “confronting institutional systems.” It was amazing to see how much work happens in just thirteen lines.
Another piece that Professor Rentz read and commented on was an excerpt of Pierce the Plowman’s Creed, an alliterative poem from the 1390s. Professor Rentz argued that while the poem highlights the life of a plowman, it is much more profound and provides insights into labor, social justice, and poverty during medieval times. She expressed that the painful image of a family struggling to get by stirs great emotion, making the reading experience very meaningful.
Before concluding the interview, the “Focus on Faculty” team asked a speed round of questions to which Professor Rentz provided interesting responses. First, when asked about her thoughts on the drama series Game of Thrones and its depiction of medieval history, she stated that she has not watched the entire series. Based on what she has seen, however, she believes that people’s conceptions of medieval history tend to be “defined by [their own] broader culture.” When asked about the importance of medieval literature’s relevance to contemporary society, Professor Rentz responded: “There is a straight line between some of our systems today to their medieval formation.” Finally, Professor Rentz’s copy of Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, which she also brought to the interview, piqued the team’s interest. She stated that the diction was a gift from her father at the start of her senior year of high school and represents her appreciation for language and critical thinking. A truly heartwarming way to conclude this interview.
This interview gave the Project team a lot of food for thought, and we hope that it does the same for the rest of CMC’s student body. As a student who has watched several shows about medieval history, I was excited to learn more about medieval literature. There is so much to learn and unpack in this field, and for that reason, we are grateful for Professor Rentz’s expertise and willingness to impart her knowledge to her students.