We start the morning with a little history. Malory�s Morte d�Arthur was won of the first books printed in England in 1485 by William Paxton. Gutenberg invented his press with movable type in 1456, which made printing much easier and faster and spurred an explosion of printing, especially when vellum was replaced with cheaper paper. By 1500, there were over 1000 presses and 50,000 different books. Books made before 1501 are called incunabula (baby clothes). Gutenberg�s printing of the Bible became the first and best printing, setting the standard. There were also more eclectic subjects, such as fishing books, religious books, and of course porn. Paxton was the first publisher, and he published both Canterbury Tales and Morte d�Arthur. The works being distributed in print created a much slower change in the language.

Next Dr. Hayward tore a page out of the back of his book, and we discussed how that made us feel and why we feel the way we do. This ties in with the Pardoner�s Tale in that it deals with human attachment to objects. We talked about the meaning that we associate with objects and whether or not a real piece of the true cross would have more power than a fake one. Some people said that if you think that it�s real, then it�s real because it�s all psychological, and that objects may even help you manage your past self. This lead to a conversation about old toys and books that we hold on to, even though we know that we won�t use them. There is a sacredness in reliving memories through objects that only matters for the individual. Can we manage without these things, and how can we do this? Perhaps this is why fire is considered a purification ritual. In the prologue, the pardoner talks about relics and how he uses them. He basically confesses that he is a fake, yet still throws his �sales pitch� at the end of his tale to try and make some money. Why does he do this? We thought that this was because he was drunk or because he just did not care to live up to the ideals.

When reading a text, sometimes you just have a hunch that something�s going on. You play with formulating connections and hopefully have an �ah ha! experience.� The things that need to be connected in the Pardoner�s Tale are 1) he reveals secrets. 2)The secrets are about the secret life of things, what power is invested in objects, and power only given by people believing in objects. In other words, is magic real? Many people did not think so. We also talked about miracles and whether or not they�re real. Some people believed in them and some didn�t. In my religious studies class, we have talked about what makes magic real: we decided that the person receiving the magic does not have to believe in it for it to work, but the person performing the magic does. 3) Something about death, and the old man. Is he death? Is there a revelation about the secret of death? Is death the result of sin? We ended talking about the possibility for revelation of all truth. Next class we will be working on Malory�s Morte d�Arthur.