MLitt in English Studies

Our expert tutors will introduce you to the very latest academic debates in literary and cultural studies and encourage you to examine the role of literature and other cultural media in the wider world.

You will take core modules which equip you with the critical, diplomatic, and technical skills necessary for PhD study and/or work in the Creative Industries and a series of option modules and dissertation which allow you to tailor the course to your own developing research needs and interests. Our 'Special Author: Directed Study’ option module allows you to explore the works of your chosen author or topic in depth with a faculty member specialising in that area.

We offer a wide range of options (dependent on faculty specialism and availability) on topics such as the Corpus Arthuriana and its modern adaptations, Early Science Fiction, Gothic Studies, Authorship and Adaptation, Voice and Text, Tragedy’s Figures, and Gender Studies, as well as offering cross-listed modules from the Creative Writing and Philosophy programmes.

We have recognised strengths in poetry, performance and poetics, authorship and adaptation studies, Science Fiction studies, and Film and visual culture. Faculty members are particularly invested in interdisciplinary, intermedial approaches, exploring the creative relationships between literature and film, poetry and theatre, and word and image.

Teaching

Various teaching methods are used, including:

• seminars
• tutorials
• essay consultations
• film screenings

Assessment

Various assessment methods are used, including:

• essays
• reading journals
• close reading exercises
• presentations
• literature review or annotated bibliography
• dissertation

Core Modules

These modules are an essential part of your course.

• Dissertation (EN50015)
• Research Methods and Skills for English Literary Studies (EN51042)
• Approaches to Literary and Visual Culture (HU51001)

Optional Modules

You need to choose one or more of these modules as part of your course.

• Arthurian Literature and Chaucer to Malory and Beyond (EN51003)
• History of Drama: from the Greeks to the Victorians (EN51021)
• British and Irish Poetry, 1688-1832 (EN51022)
• Early Science Fiction Literature and Film (EN51025)
• Scottish Literature (EN51031)
• The Literature of Hollywood (EN51032)
• Gothic Legacies (EN51034)
• Publishing Writing A: Developing Literary Journal Skills (EN51035)
• Current Research In Literary Studies and Theory I (EN51043)
• James Joyce and the Cinema (EN52007)
• Exploring Old English Texts (EN52024)
• Literature & Society, 1750-1900 (EN52029)
• Special Author (directed reading) (EN52039)
• Post-war Science Fiction Literature and Film (EN52040)
• Themes in Contemporary Literature and Culture (EN52046)
• Voice and Text (EN52051)
• Current Research in Literary Studies and Theory 2 (EN52052)
• Authorship and Appropriation (EN52053)
• History of the Book, 1500-1800 (HU52005)
• Tragedy's Figures: Aesthetics, Politics, Philosophy (HU52009)
• Work placement-based Dissertation (HU53002)

This course provides you with training in literary and cultural research as a firm basis for proceeding to doctoral study. As well as being a research preparation degree, the course also caters directly for those who wish to take their first degree to a higher level of advanced study, for either career development or merely general interest.

Having developed your written presentation skills, your ability to work independently, and having planned and conducted independent research and study, you will also be prepared to enter any non-academic career field.