📖Program Curriculum
Studying English literature language and creative writing can be both inspiring and rewarding offering new insight into the ways in which stories poems novels plays and their authors creatively interpret the world in which we live.
This course is taught through a combination of five core modules and one optional module from a choice which reflects the variety in cross-period and thematic spread of English as a subject.
To graduate with a Master’s qualification you must complete 180 credits including the production of a 15000-word dissertation (60 credits) on a topic of your choice negotiated with and supervised by one of our experienced researchers. You will begin your dissertation early in the course and continue working on it throughout the duration of your studies.
In preparation you will undertake a full research training programme which includes sessions on academic writing ethics archives and databases writing a research proposal and an introduction to a range of methodological approaches from across the Humanities. These sessions are also designed to develop the necessary skills for doctoral research. You’ll be given advice on how to construct develop and write an extended dissertation based on independent research.
The MA English Literatures can be studied as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course with a September start date. It is also possible to study more flexibly part-time on a modular basis accumulating degree credits by taking individual modules over a maximum period of five years.
Core Taught Modules
HIS-40017 Research Skills in the Humanities (15 credits) Semester 1
You will receive training in the practical and technical skills necessary for postgraduate research in the humanities so you will be able to plan then find and use the necessary resources for your research and writing. This includes: relevant University regulations; procedures for managing a research degree; the differences between popular press dissemination of research and academic forms; how to identify issues of research ethic affecting your work; and how to use real-world and digital archives and be creative in looking for primary research sources such as film archives digitised magazines and pamphlets first editions of out of print literature. You will also develop essential personal and professional skills in time stress and project management.
HIS-40016 Reflective Practice in the Humanities (15 credits) Semester 2
Reflective practice describes a systematic approach to reflection that involves creating a habit structure and routine around reflecting on our experiences and engaging in continuous learning. Whether you choose to learn from experience as an individual or with others there are many benefits to be gained from sharing ideas experiences and considering how you can change or improve your creative practice. Throughout this module you will be asked to explore the intellectual connections between your research area and wider fields of study. We look at ‘big ideas’ relevant to contemporary society such as the concept of ‘post truth’ ‘big data’ and the pulling down of statues and we work to understand them from the perspective of our disciplines.
ENG-40007 Criticism Analysis Theory in Literary Studies (30 credits) Semester 1
You will develop your analytical abilities through the study of a selection of key theoretical and critical issues and approaches in contemporary literary and cultural analysis. You’ll be introduced to the variety of interpretive methods currently used within the discipline of English. Collective weekly discussions about selected text examples build your confidence in selecting and applying such theory to a range of literary texts. In your assessments you can choose to develop a project focusing on literary and filmic texts studied on the course or of your own choice.
ENG-40032 Canon Anti-Canon Context (30 credits) Semesters 1-2
You will explore key questions of literary value and function developing high-level skills in cross-period comparative reading and the evaluation of literature across a variety of literary periods national and international contexts genres and movements. The module asks questions such as: what is a ‘literary’ text and in what ways is it different from non-literary texts or from filmic ones? How does a text become ‘canonical’? What prevents other texts from being classified as ‘canonical’? How do canonical and non-canonical texts construct and communicate different constructions of identity? How do these texts and identities come to be recovered and perhaps evaluated differently in different social and intellectual contexts?
ENG-40034 Dissertation – English (60 credits) Semesters 1 2 & 3
Guided by extensive one-to-one supervision from an internationally-renowned expert in the field of English Studies you will research plan and write a substantial piece of original work locating your specific topic within the context of relevant debates within the discipline of English literature and the humanities more generally. The final dissertation is 15000 words excluding footnotes bibliography and annexes. Capitalising on expertise across the School of Humanities you have considerable flexibility when choosing your specialist subject not just in literature but also other media including film studies and television. In the past student dissertations have ranged from a review of identity and disability in coming-of-age literature to a focus on modern Japanese literature to the study of selfhood in post-modernist literature and film.
Optional Modules
You will choose one optional module from the following list. Please note that optional modules are based on individual staff specialisms and so change each year. This is an indicative list from 2021-2022.
ENG-40035: Sex Scandal and Society: Eighteenth-Century Writing and Culture
The 18th century saw the emergence of the English novel the rapid rise of the periodical press and the professionalisation of imaginative writing as well as an upsurge in comedies of social manners on the stage a healthy flow of erotic and pornographic texts and poetry whose sexual and satiric energy is barely curbed by social decorum and convention. In short men and women of letters were interested in society in fascinating new ways that were the result of the exponential growth of London the financial revolution that helped erode old social hierarchies changes in sexual relations and constructions of gender celebrity culture and the rise of personality-based politics. Perhaps it is not too much to say that our own society is the heir to changes that happened in the age of the four Georges (1714-1830) and this module is an opportunity to study the fiction drama poetry images and culture of this period. Authors studied may include: Daniel Defoe Eliza Haywood John Cleland William Hogarth Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Jane Austen.
ENG-40061: The Alcohol Question: Advanced Studies in the Literature of Drink and Drinking Culture
From celebrations of friendship and sociability to cautionary tales of inebriety and debauchery from the euphoria of intoxication to the misery of the hangover from the public house to the home the stage to the pulpit literature and the arts have a long and ambivalent relationship with alcohol. This module presents some of the key representations of alcohol and drinking culture from the Renaissance to the present day. You will examine the social and cultural function of different types of alcohol look at the economic factors that have affected the consumption and licensing of drink interrogate some of the common myths and discourses which surround alcohol explore changing medical understanding of subjects such as alcoholism and addiction and explore the associations that literature often makes between sexuality class and alcohol. The module covers a comprehensive series of texts – ranging from poetry to prose film to the fine arts – that each represent a different aspect of what has become known as The Alcohol Question. It invites you to reflect upon the reasons why alcohol is such a pervasive but divisive topic and why so many creative minds have felt the need to address its importance to the human condition in such a variety of different ways.
ENG-40044: Postmodernism: Fiction Film and Theory
Postmodernism represents an important body of critical theory that developed in the second half of the 20th century and continues to have relevance in the 21st. It crosses a range of disciplines but emphasises an interrogative reflexive and eclectic challenge to many philosophical and aesthetic values and practices. On this module you will explore the relevance and meaning of some of the ideas associated with postmodernism with respect to selected novels and films. You will assess the influence of key ideas on writers and directors and study the main themes and techniques used in postmodern fiction and film. The module also encourages a critically-informed assessment of the implications of postmodern thinking for contemporary notions of history identity sexuality politics and consumer society. Fiction and film likely to be studied on the module include Julian Barnes A History of the World in 10 Chapters; Jeanette Winterson Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit; Martin Amis Other People; Ali Smith How To Be Both; The Hours (dir. Stephen Daldry); The Company of Wolves (dir. Neil Jordan); The Matrix (dir. the Wachowskis); and Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch).
ENG-40031 Life Writing (30 credits)
The last few years have seen the publication of major autobiographical and biographical works in Britain and the United States as well as a surge of academic interest in life writing. Responding to the growing interest in life writing this module encourages you to reflect creatively and analytically on the nature history and techniques of autobiographical biographical and memoir writing. During weekly two-hour seminars and workshops you will discuss selected passages drawn from classic (Augustine Rousseau Mill Gosse) and more recent works (Sage Diski Slater Hamilton-Paterson and many others). You will plan develop and discuss ideas and outputs in order to develop creative skills including drafting and editing.
AMS-40040: High Culture: Drink Drugs and the American Dream
The module examines the social cultural psychological medical philosophical and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol heroin LSD and peyote. Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might for example focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation) it focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The first half of the module focuses on addiction the second half on the relationship between pharmacological and aesthetic experimentation. The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. Texts studied may include: Charles Jackson The Lost Weekend (1944); The Lost Weekend (1945) directed by Billy Wilder; William Burroughs Junky (1953); Daniel Pinchbeck Breaking Open the Head (2002); William Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg The Yage Letters (1963); Tom Wolfe The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968); Carlos Castaneda The Teachings of Don Juan (1968); Hunter S. Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971); Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) film.
ENG-40065: Violence and Death: Advanced Studies in Shakespeare’s Theatre
The early modern period was saturated in violence. It was enshrined in the legal system: spectators flocked to see beheadings hangings and other forms of public execution and physical mutilation by the state. It was treated as entertainment: bears dogs and cockerels were forced to fight each other to the death for the pleasure of paying customers. For men it was often seen as a way of proving masculinity: going to war or besting others in single combat was a way of proving their worth. This module will explore the many ways in which violence manifested itself within Shakespeare’s society and the many different meanings that were attached to violent acts. You will study a range of early modern drama by both Shakespeare and his contemporaries and in the process learn more about early modern attitudes to revenge warfare the violated human body and the relationships between violence and race gender religion and the law. You will question why violence was so popular on the early modern stage and what its appeal might have been for contemporary spectators. You will also study some modern film adaptations of Renaissance plays and think about how the violence of the early modern period might be related to the violence of our own present-day culture.
ENG-40042: Postcolonial and World Literature in English
This module introduces you to the diversity of literature produced in postcolonial contexts since the end of World War II. You will compare material from a number of formerly colonised regions – including Africa the Middle East America and the Caribbean – and explore how postcolonial texts relate to local cultural and historical experiences. The module is structured around some of the most highly charged issues tackled by postcolonial artists: cultural identity and nationhood; race gender and the body; slavery; globalisation; migration; diaspora; and war. You will explore the ways in which the exciting and challenging ideas raised by postcolonial theory can be applied and consider how world literature is consumed in a global marketplace. Relating postcolonial texts to your own cultural and historical contexts and the wider world you will learn to apply postcolonial theory to a variety of global literary and cultural texts helping you develop writing and presentation styles appropriate for a range of purposes and audiences.
ENG-40057 Work Placement for Humanities Postgraduates
This module is designed to give you an opportunity to contribute to the world beyond the University in any workplace where the research analytical and communication skills developed as part of a postgraduate Humanities degree can be used. The chosen workplace may be for example a local museum theatre charity library school or education provider marketing company PR firm local newspaper local radio or another suitable opportunity identified by you and approved by the module leader. While on the placement you will produce a theoretically informed portfolio critically reflecting on and giving evidence of the activities/outputs completed at your chosen workplace. These may include for example researching and producing materials advertising or supporting current or proposed exhibits or performances researching and producing written or audio pieces and/or planning small-group educational activities on Humanities-related topics. Advice will be given on identifying and contacting placements and composing a CV in semester 1 and support will be provided throughout the placement which will usually take place in Semester 2.
