Dr. Joan E. McRae

Professor

Dr. Joan E.  McRae
(615) 898-5757
Room 222, Paul W. Martin, Sr. Honors Building (HONR)
MTSU Box 79, Murfreesboro, TN 37132

Degree Information

  • PHD, University of Virginia (1997)
  • MA, Middlebury College (1989)
  • BA, Agnes Scott College (1986)

Areas of Expertise

French literature and culture, Medieval French literature, Manuscript Studies and Codicology, Humanities, Study Abroad

Biography

Education Ph.D. 1997, French, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Major field of concentration: Medieval French Literature; Minor field of concentration: Comparative Medieval Literature (English, Italian, German, Spanish)  

M.A., 1989, French, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, at Paris X (Nanterre) and the Ecole de la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris, France (awarded the Diplôme Supérieure de Franç...

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Education Ph.D. 1997, French, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Major field of concentration: Medieval French Literature; Minor field of concentration: Comparative Medieval Literature (English, Italian, German, Spanish)  

M.A., 1989, French, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, at Paris X (Nanterre) and the Ecole de la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris, France (awarded the Diplôme Supérieure de Français des Affaires). Major Field of Concentration: French Culture and Civilization             

Graduate Coursework, University of Georgia, 1987-88    

B.A., 1986, French. Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia. Major: French

Sweet Briar Junior Year in France, 1984-85.

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Publications

An Introduction to Literary Debate in Late Medieval France, Gainsville: UP Florida, 20024.

A Companion to Alain Chartier, ed. with Emma Cayley and Daisy Delogu. Brill: 2015.

La Queste del Saint Graal: From the Illustrated Lancelot Prose of Yale 229. Series editor, E. M. Willingham. Editors Joan McRae, Walter Blue, Nina Dulin-Mallory, Virginie Greene, Stacy Hahn, Lynn Ramey. Turnhout: Brepols, 2012.

La Mort le Roi Artu: From the Illustrate...

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An Introduction to Literary Debate in Late Medieval France, Gainsville: UP Florida, 20024.

A Companion to Alain Chartier, ed. with Emma Cayley and Daisy Delogu. Brill: 2015.

La Queste del Saint Graal: From the Illustrated Lancelot Prose of Yale 229. Series editor, E. M. Willingham. Editors Joan McRae, Walter Blue, Nina Dulin-Mallory, Virginie Greene, Stacy Hahn, Lynn Ramey. Turnhout: Brepols, 2012.

La Mort le Roi Artu: From the Illustrated Lancelot Prose of Yale 229. Series editor, E. M. Willingham. Editors Joan McRae, Nancy Black, Walter Blue, Nina Dulin-Mallory, Virginie Greene, Stacy Hahn, Kathy Krause, Lynn Ramey. Turnhout: Brepols, 2008.

Alain Chartier: the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Le Cycle de la Belle dame sans mercy d’Alain Chartier: Une anthologie poétique du XV siècle. With David F. Hult. Paris: Classiques Honoré Champion, 2003.

“Debating Peace and War: Anonymous Ballads in Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 473,” CMRS, forthcoming.

 

“La Belle Dame of Chartier Manuscripts: Beinecke 1216, the Clumber Park Chartier” in The Waxing of the Middle Ages: Revisiting the Late French and Burgundian Middle Ages. Eds. Tracy Adams and Charles-Louis Morand-Métivier. University of Delaware Press, 2023.

“Medieval(ist) Pastimes, or What’s a Belle Dame Doing in a Place like Hatfield House?” In Proceedings from the XVth Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society. Ed. Gloria Allaire. Routledge (2022): 172-182.

“Anne de Graville Translates Alain Chartier: Identifying the Manuscript Source in the Margins of B.N. fr. 2253." Magnificat, Vol 7 (2020): 187-209.

“La Visée politique des ballades d’Alain Chartier,” in Le pouvoir des lettres sous le règne de Charles VII. Eds. Florence Bouchet, Sébastien Cazalas, Philippe Maupeu. Bibliothèque du XVe siècle, Paris: Editions Champion, 2020: 57-70.

"Considering the History of Education Abroad Programs to Create Assignments Serving both the Academic & Professional Needs of Students," with Lara Smith-Sitton. The Journal of Global Initiatives, Special Issue: The Impact of Communication technologies on Study Abroad. Vol. 14, No.1 (2019): 119-148.

“A Previously Unknown Alain Chartier Manuscript: Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 297.” In Il fist que proz: Essays in Honor of Robert Frances Cook. Eds. Sara Jane Miles and Stephen Martin. London: Rencesvals Publications, 2018: 101-113.

“Alain Chartier’s Livre de l’Espérance: a remodeling of Dante’s Commedia?” Digital Philology. 7.2 (fall 2018): 230-249.

“Piecing the Puzzle: Reconsidering the Dating of the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy and Le Champion des dames.Medieval Perspectives 30, 2015: 101-116.

“A Community of Readers: The Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy” in A Companion to Alain Chartier. Eds. Delogu, McRae, Cayley. Brill, 2015.

“Cyclification and Circulation of the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy" in Chartier in Europe. Ed. Emma Cayley and Ashby Kinch. Rochester, NY: Gallica, Boydell and Brewer, 2008: 91-104.

"Text and Context: the Production of Images in Yale 229" with William Nelles in The Illustrated Lancelot Prose of Yale 229: Essays on Yale 229. Ed. E. M. Willingham. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007.

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Presentations

Invited Lectures “Illustrations of Alain Chartier’s Quadrilogue invectif, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, October 2016.

“Peace for Princes: Chartier’s Lai de Paix and the Hundred Years War.” Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. For “Prosecuting War in the Long Fourteenth Century.” Oct 31, 2015.

“Piecing the Puzzle: Reflections on the Dating of the Quarrel of La Belle dame sans mercy....

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Invited Lectures “Illustrations of Alain Chartier’s Quadrilogue invectif, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, October 2016.

“Peace for Princes: Chartier’s Lai de Paix and the Hundred Years War.” Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. For “Prosecuting War in the Long Fourteenth Century.” Oct 31, 2015.

“Piecing the Puzzle: Reflections on the Dating of the Quarrel of La Belle dame sans mercy.” University of Exeter, Exeter, England. December 1, 2014.

“Higher Education in America,” “Religion and America,” “Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CSUFT), Changsha, China. May 2013.

Conference Sessions:

“Urban Utopia and the Roman Policier of 19th Century France. South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Jacksonville, FL November 2016.

“The Power of Remembrance: Manuscript as Memorial.” Southeastern Medieval Association, Knoxville, TN October 2016.

“A Medievalist at Play: Discovering a new Chartier Manuscript at Hatfield House.” International Courtly Literature Society, Lexington, KY July 2016.

“Chartier and Dante,” Traduction et Réception: la litterature française des XIVe et XVe  siècles. Departament de Traduccio I Ciènes del Llenguatge-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, July 2016.

“Agnès Sorel, Etienne Chevalier, and the Clumber Park Manuscript.” 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2016  

“Es Tu Fol, Hors du Scens ou Yvre?’ Alain Chartier Responds to the Quarrel of the Rose.” 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2015

“Breaking the Rules in International Detective Fiction,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA. November 2014.

“Lost and Found: Tracking Medieval Manuscripts in the Age of Internet.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA. November 2014.

(most recent)

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Awards

GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) award, U.S. Department of Education, 2015-2019. $532,00.00 over 3 years to fund M.A.T. Teaching Assistants. International

Travel Research Grant Award, MTSU, 2016, $1,200.

Faculty Learning Communities, Graduate Teaching and Learning. 2015-2016, $500; 2016-2017, $500. Teaching with Wikipedia, 2021-2022

GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) award, U.S. Department of Education, 2012-2015. $532,00.00 over...

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GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) award, U.S. Department of Education, 2015-2019. $532,00.00 over 3 years to fund M.A.T. Teaching Assistants. International

Travel Research Grant Award, MTSU, 2016, $1,200.

Faculty Learning Communities, Graduate Teaching and Learning. 2015-2016, $500; 2016-2017, $500. Teaching with Wikipedia, 2021-2022

GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) award, U.S. Department of Education, 2012-2015. $532,00.00 over 3 years to fund M.A.T. Teaching Assistants.

International Travel Research Grant Award, MTSU, 2014. $1,500.

Faculty Fellow of the Academy for Teaching Excellence, MTSU 2014-15.

Faculty Research and Creativity Summer Award, MTSU, 2011. $7, 900.

Summer Research Fellow, Hampden-Sydney College, 1998-2008. $2,800.

Fellow, Wye Faculty Seminar, The Aspen Institute, Wye, MD. July, 2004.

NEH, summer stipend recipient, 2003, $5,000.

NEH seminar fellow, Paris, Summer 2003. “Urbanism and Early Modern Paris,” led by Karen Newman. Fellow, The Rare Book School, "The Illuminated Manuscript" led by Roger Weiss, Charlottesville, VA. August 2002.

Keirfoot-Stone Award, student appreciation award. Hampden-Sydney College, May 2002.

William W. Elliott Assistant Professorship in Modern Languages, awarded for excellence in scholarship, teaching and service, Hampden-Sydney College, July 2001-July 2004.

Fuqua Award for Excellence in Teaching, Hampden-Sydney College May 2001.

NEH seminar fellow, Yale University, Summer 2000. “The Arthurian Illuminated Manuscript and the Culture of the High Middle Ages,” led by Howard Bloch.

Mednick Fellow, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, summer, 1998.  

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Research / Scholarly Activity

Medieval French literature, including the works of Alain Chartier and the Arthurian tradition. 

 

Courses

Graduate faculty, Foreign Languages M.A.T. and Liberal Arts M.A; Honors Faculty and Buchanan Fellows Honors Faculty

Quest for the Holy Grail                                              

French Literature: Medieval-17th century    ...

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Graduate faculty, Foreign Languages M.A.T. and Liberal Arts M.A; Honors Faculty and Buchanan Fellows Honors Faculty

Quest for the Holy Grail                                              

French Literature: Medieval-17th century       

Arthurian Tradition                                        

Advanced French Grammar and Stylistics Medieval French Literature                             

French Culture and Civilization

Topics in Contemporary French Culture

French Phonetics

French Film                                                    

Beginning & Intermediate French French Business                                              

French Composition and Conversation

Study Abroad: The Art & History of Paris      

French Theatre: Molière                     

French literature: 18th-20 centuries                 

Civilization, Culture, and Literature

Intermediate French                 

Study Abroad: The European Union    

The Holocaust Deniers in France                   

Honors Seminar: V. Hugo: Notre Dame de Paris

Western Culture: 1789-present                                   

Honors Seminar: The DaVinci Code

Using French Film to Teach Civilization                     

Honors Seminar: Allegory: Reading Figuratively

Medical Vocabulary                                         

International Detective Fiction

Questing for the Modern                                 

Hide and Seek: Allegory and the Figurative

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