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Faculty Member

Dr. Ruen-chuan Ma

Biography

Associate Professor of English and Literature
[email protected]

Research Interests

Late medieval English and French literature, medieval manuscript studies (esp. page design and codicology), medieval reception of classical texts

Courses Taught

ENGL 2010 - Intermediate Writing
ENGL 2230 - Myths and Legends in Literature
ENGL 2610 - British Literature to 1800
ENGL 2850 - Literary History I
ENGL 3090 - Academic Writing for English Majors
ENGL 3610 - Medieval Literature
ENGL 374G - Literature of the Sacred
ENGL 376G - World Literature
ENGL 4620 - Chaucer
ENGL 463R - Topics in Shakespeare
ENGL 4710R - Eminent Authors: Pearl Poet, Eminent Authors: Chaucer
HONR 2000 - Ancient Legacies

Co-Director, English Department London Study Abroad Program, Summer 2023

Education

PhD, Columbia University, 2017

Major: English and Comparative Literature

MA, University College London, 2008

Major: Medieval Studies

BA, University of Chicago, 2007

Major: English Language and Literature

Teaching

ENGL 4710R

Eminent Authors, Spring 2026

ENGL 2010

Intermediate Academic Writing, Spring 2026

ENGL 2010

Intermediate Academic Writing, Spring 2026

ENGL 2850

Literary History I, Spring 2026

Presentations

Ma, Ruen-chuan , Ab Uno Disce Omnes_ A Conference in Honor of Christopher Baswell, "Magnifying the Magnificat_ Translation and Page Design in Manuscripts of Lydgate's Life of Our Lady", Columbia University Medieval Studies Seminar, Barnard College, New York, New York. (May 23, 2025)
Ma, Ruen-chuan , International Congress on Medieval Studies, "The Ordinary and the Extraordinary in the Book History Classroom_ Medieval World Maps", Kalamazoo, Michigan. (May 8, 2025)
Ma, Ruen-chuan , Faculty Colloquium, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University, "Rare Books and Imperial Ambitions_ Situating Western Medieval Manuscripts in East Asia", Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. (February 26, 2025)
Ma, Ruen-chuan , Biennial Congress of the New Chaucer Society, "Books in 'Ferne Halwes’ and 'Sondry Londes’: Critical Provenances and the Evolving Object Legacies of Medieval Literary Manuscripts", New Chaucer Society, Pasadena, CA. (July 18, 2024)
Ma, Ruen-chuan , V International Congress of the John Gower Society, "Mixed Modes and Mixed Tongues_ Re-evaluating Gower’s Bilingualism, V International Congress of the John Gower Society, St. Andrews University, U.K., July 2023", John Gower Society, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. (July 8, 2023)
Ma, Ruen-chuan , Biennial Congress of the New Chaucer Society, "The Semantic Potential of Manuscript Decoration_ Communities of Reading in the House of Fame", New Chaucer Society, Durham, UK. (July, 2022)

Scholarly/Creative Works

Ma, Ruen-chuan , (2025) "Reading “thise lettres rede”: Page Design, Visual Data, and Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde" (Issue: 1, vol. 14). Digital Philology. https://doi.org/10.1353/dph.2025.a959169
Ma, Ruen-chuan , (2025) "John Gower’s Rhetoric_ Classical Authority, Biblical Ethos, and Renaissance Receptions" (Issue: 1, vol. 100). Speculum. https://doi.org/10.1086/733601
Ma, Ruen-chuan , "Margin(e)" (vol. 38). Medieval Perspectives.
Ma, Ruen-chuan , (2024) "Hoccleve's Series_ Building a Critical Foundation for Teaching Research Writing" (Issue: 2, vol. 31). Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching .
Ma, Ruen-chuan , (2022) "Sarah Breckinridge Wright. Mobility and Identity in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales." (vol. 44). Studies in the Age of Chaucer.
Ma, Ruen-chuan , (2022) "Curatorial Hoccleve_ Spiritual and Codicological Illumination in the Regiment of Princes" . Boydell and Brewer Limited. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781800106420.011