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Dear members of REED-L - Perhaps you'd be willing to give me a bit of help. I teach a course in medieval literature for graduates who are not specialists in early literature. Basically, it's a survey of sorts from Caedmon to Malory. Next week, I have to say a few things about Medieval drama, so I'll touch on the commonplaces drawn from Young, Chambers, and Hardison. I'll also mention David Dumville's edition of the Harrowing of Hell piece in the Book of Cerne and discuss the argument about whether those really are incipient stage directions or mere narrative description. - Then we'll talk about whichever late medieval dramas happen to be printed in the anthology -- Second Shepherd, Everyman, Noah, etc. - If you were as limited as I am in time, students' background, and personal research on the early drama -- No, let me put that another way: - If you had an hour and one-half to make two or three basic points about medieval drama generally, what would you say? To what degree would you bother with the theories of origin? How do you talk about liturgical action to people with no experience of liturgy? - I have two motivations for asking this. First, I want you to help me prepare a lecture in an area in which I don't feel very competent. Second, I would like to stir up two or three hornets' nests in an effort to help Abigail get some chat going here. So, on both counts, even a simple declarative statement would be useful. - --Pat