English Literature
BA (Hons)

Foundations of Literary Study: Tragedy (Core)

You will survey the West’s most important literary tradition, from ancient Greece to the present day taking in works by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy and Ibsen along the way.

Introduction to Critical Theory (Core)

The module introduces critical theory and its application to the reading of literary texts. Beginning with classical descriptions of form and unity, the module traces the major developments in critical theory to the present day.

Practical Criticism (Optional)

Module description coming soon.

London Theatre (Optional)

This module introduces you to the contemporary London theatre scene by encouraging you to see a range of productions in London, and training you how to write and review these shows as your assessment.

Contemporary International Theatre (Optional)

The aim of this module is to introduce you to contemporary theatre outside of London and internationally. This module will introduce you to developments in theatre world-wide, so that you can compare international practice with traditional and innovative theatre in London.

Contemporary Fiction (Optional)

Classes revolve around five or six novels written in the past three decades. The module expands on the Critical Theory module to pose questions about the politics and pleasures of reading. Recent texts considered have been: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes; Atonement by Ian McEwan; White Teeth by Zadie Smith; and All the Birds Singing, by Evie Wyld. We also often ask our resident authors Christie Watson and Jonathan Gibbs to come in and talk about their books.

Language Acquisition (Optional)

This module examines the ways in which humans learn language. In particular, the difference between the ease with small children learn to speak one or more languages against the difficulty that most adults find learning a foreign language is explored.

Writing Short Fiction (Optional)

The aim of this module is to provide you with an introduction to the key issues, concerns and problems associated with thinking about and writing short stories. The module will concentrate on fundamental components of fiction writing including narrative structure, characterisation, point of view, genre, dialogue and rewriting and editing. Workshop sessions will be a key aspect of the unit, serving both as a means for you to develop your own work as well as your editorial skills through measured and constructive critiquing of the work of your peers.

Film, Style and Form (Optional)

This module introduces you to film and television style. Beginning with a consideration of the variety of forms and approaches to the moving image, you will consider the micro elements of cinema such as mise en scène, cinematography, editing, sound, montage and special effects. You will also consider the macro structures such as narrative and genre, with a focus also on the identities of the producers, performers and audiences for screen industries.

Writing the Renaissance (Core)

This module will introduce you to the cultural history of early modern England, and to the major theoretical and historiographical approaches thereto. The module resituates Shakespearean drama in a broader cultural context.

Romanticism: English Literature and its Background 1776-1832 (Core)

The module asks you to read literature of the ‘Romantic’ period in the context of revolutions and profound changes that were happening in society. While the big six male poets – Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats – are considered, the module brings to the fore works by working-class and women writers, such as Shelley’s Frankenstein, Austen’s Persuasion, and John Clare’s poetry.

Fiction and Theatre of the New Millennium (Optional)

The module aims to give you the opportunity to study a range of literature and theatre practice which has developed since 2000 and encourages you to investigate some varied forms and trends in contemporary literature and theatre during this period. You will develop an awareness of critical approaches to recent and current literature and theatre writing in performance and will have the opportunity to experience a range of new writing in both the literary and theatrical forms.

Gothic Cultures 1760-1900 (Optional)

Starting with Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto (1764), which was written at Strawberry Hill, you will examine the result genre of Gothic fiction that flourished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Writing Adaptations (Optional)

The aim of this module is to offer an examination of the relationships between texts in different creative media, and specifically to develop your critical and creative skills in considering the relationship between the printed word and film/television, with particular emphasis upon the techniques and processes of adaptation. Source material for consideration in the module will include short stories, novels, comics and graphic novels, non-fiction and video or computer games. Adaptations from page-to-screen as well as from screen-to-page (novelisations, tie-ins, spin-offs, etc) will be examined.

Curating London (Optional)

In this module, oriented towards the achievement of your career aspirations, you first examine the history of, and writing about, the capital city, and are then asked to plan and execute an enterprising project on the subject. You may create an education website on some aspect, design a walking tour of a part of the city, or curate a small exhibition or film season on a particular theme.

Narrative and Identity in the 19th Century Novel (Optional)

Module description coming soon.

The Irish Literary Revival on Page and Stage (Optional)

This module examines the development of Irish literature and drama from the late 19th Century to the present, charting the ways in which the texts studied reflect social and political change from the setting up of the Abbey Theatre to the boom of the Celtic Tiger. The first part of the module will analyse the work of W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and J.M. Synge. You will specifically consider how the radical cultural nationalism of the literary revival contributed to the political ferment which would eventually lead to revolution and independence in Ireland. The next four weeks consider a range of reactions from the counter-revival, examining the ways in which the procedures of the Revivalists were extended, parodied or rebutted by artists like Sean O'Casey and Brendan Behan. The final weeks focus on the Irish contribution to contemporary drama, from the influence of Beckett's work to recent international successes like Marina Carr and Conor McPherson.

Eighteenth Century London: Writing the Metropolis 1700-1832 (Optional)

You will study the growth of the world’s first ‘mega city’ by looking at the writing produced in and about it during the long eighteenth century.

The module aims to enable you to read a number of literary works within the context of the metropolis as it was during the period 1700-1830, and to encourage you to reflect on the synthesis between historical and geographical environments and the texts that arise from them and come to define them.

Contributing to the Community (Optional)

As local employers and suppliers of services, businesses are an integral part of any community or society. On this module, students with business or management ambitions will develop an appreciation of social issues and concerns. This module provides you with practical work experience in a community-focused service, such as a charity, social or education service. You will develop your societal awareness and gain a greater understanding of local-level organisations. The placement acts as a case study for you to explore issues of social justice and community action. The module also helps to develop your employability skills through the process of self-reflection and evaluation and by applying theory to practice.

Experience and Employment in Business (Optional)

This module will give you the opportunity to analyse and reflect on your own core competencies, personal qualities and areas for development using in-depth psychometric testing. Having undertaken these tests, you will identify and explore key areas for development within the context of your future career aspirations.

The module incorporates a period of work experience which will enable you to focus on both the practical application and development of your key skills, whilst simultaneously exploring and defining the corporate culture of your workplace to enable you to define your own cultural fit. The combination of psychometric testing, reflection and analysis of the workplace will culminate in the production of a focussed career action plan.

Experience and Employment in Education (Optional)

This module aims to provide you with an opportunity to experience the workplace and to develop skills and knowledge in a relevant discipline. The module will help prepare you for the workplace by raising awareness of workplace issues within the education sector, encouraging you to reflect on the development of your professional practice.

It will also help you to define and then develop the specific work-related skills that you need in order to become more employable. You will be encouraged to share experience in order to encourage learning and to help you articulate your strengths.

Modernisms (Core)

This core module concerns the great flowering of European culture from the late nineteenth century until the Second World War. Authors examined include Thomas Hardy, T S Eliot, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

Dissertation (Core)

Working closely with a supervisor, you are given the opportunity to specialise in a subject of particular academic or career interest to you. Students often describe submission of this piece of work as their proudest moment, because it represents the fulfilment of three years of study and a symbol of the expertise gained during this time.

Writing Conflict: Literature of the First World War (Optional)

The war of 1914-8 saw killing on an industrial unseen hitherto; the module examines how it is possible to respond to the horror and pity of war in literature and in art. As well as the well-known British war poets such as Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, and Wilfred Owen, the course also looks at writing by authors of other nationalities, and some more recent representations of the war.

Special Study (Optional)

Module description coming soon.

Literature and the Unconscious (Optional)

Taking texts like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and R L Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde as examples, this module proposes a psychoanalytic approach to reading literature, and asks you to examine the literary text as an expression of those repressed anxieties and desires we call ‘the unconscious’.

Bob Dylan and the Lyricism of Protest (Optional)

Following the award of the Novel Prize for Literature in 2015, this module examines the work Bob Dylan, in particular within the context of the counterculture and social protest of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Ancient and the Modern in Greek and Irish Theatre (Optional)

Module description coming soon.

New Voices: Twentieth-Century Literature (Optional)

Module description coming soon.

History of the English Language (Optional)

This module is an introduction to historical linguistics. It looks first at the nature and inevitability of language change, then at how and why English sounds, words, grammar and spelling have altered in the last thousand years or so. You will also look at present-day English and how it is likely to change in the future. A variety of written texts and transcripts will be studied, as well as some audio and video material.

Sociolinguistics (Optional)

The aim of this module is to consider key themes in sociolinguistics and their relevance to language education, especially English Language teaching and learning. The module is designed to raise awareness of sociolinguistic issues relevant to language teachers and to provide a general theoretical framework to aid the analysis of language teaching contexts. It also considers the methodologies of sociolinguistic research with particular reference to the teaching context.