MA English

Summary 2012/13

• Combine the study of early modern and/or modern and contemporary literature with modern and contemporary culture, film and history;
• Benefit from a distinct interdisciplinary curriculum;
• Study subjects which are not commonly available within a single MA, including historical topics approached from the perspective of literature, history, popular culture and film;
• Study a programme taught by a supportive team of specialist tutors with interests in literature, popular culture, genre studies, modern history, women’s studies and film.

The MA in English covers literature and popular culture in their historical contexts from the sixteenth century to the present day. It provides you with opportunities to undertake a comparative study of literature, history and film.

The MA will appeal if you are interested in combining the study of ‘serious’ literature with popular writing, women’s literature, or topics, such as Empire, American national identity, the Victorian period, Holocaust or Second World War, approached as interdisciplinary case studies from the perspective of literature, history, popular culture and film. The programme has an interdisciplinary focus, allowing you to work across subject boundaries.

2012 Entry Requirements

To join this programme, a good first degree in a relevant subject is normally required (2.2 or above).

Details

Who is this course for?

The MA in English will appeal if you are a student of literature, with interests that cross the boundaries of literature, popular culture, film and history, who would like to pursue this combined focus at MA level.

The programme is also excellent preparation if you wish to pursue a research-based higher degree in the future since it includes a compulsory introduction to research skills and methodologies and a dissertation project.

What will I gain from this programme?

You will acquire a distinctive subject knowledge arising from the interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum. The MA will provide you with experience of advanced literary study, the practical skills necessary to undertake work across subject boundaries and training in transferable research skills and methodologies.

How we will support you

You will take a module intended to update your critical skills and theoretical knowledge and also study a further core module introducing research philosophies and methodologies in the humanities. You will be assigned a personal tutor and develop your own personal development plan.

What will I study?

The programme consists of two core modules (20 credits each), four optional modules (20 credits each) and a compulsory dissertation (60 credits). You will be guided to a combination of optional modules focused upon early modern and/or modern and contemporary literature or a combination of literature modules and modules on a historical topic or theme.

If you are interested in literature, the available options cover texts from the sixteenth century to the present day. Themes include women’s narrative, the shifting representations of women in American and British popular culture, ‘transgressive’ women’s writing and African-American women’s writing.

History-related modules focus on themes from the last three centuries, including topics such as Empire, masculinity, the Holocaust and the Second World War, approached as interdisciplinary case studies involving the study of history, literature, culture (especially popular culture) and film.

How will I study?

You will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and guided independent learning. Part-time students will attend one evening a week and full-time students will attend twice a week. Teaching is currently scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evenings (6-9pm).

Who will be teaching me?

You will be taught by a team of specialist tutors who are active researchers and committed teachers with interests in literature, popular culture, genre studies, modern history, women’s studies, history and film.

How will I be assessed?

You will be assessed through a combination of assignments which, depending on the modules you choose, may include essays, critical reviews, critical diaries, presentations and research-based projects and a dissertation.

What are my career prospects?

Graduates in the humanities with a higher degree find employment in a wide variety of careers such as teaching, arts organisation and management, the heritage industry, publishing, advertising, journalism, libraries and learning centres, and management / administration.

Related Programmes

• MA Creative Writing
• MA History and Culture
• MA Popular Culture
• MA Women’s Narrative

A Great Study Environment

Based in 160 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, the Ormskirk Campus is a unique and inspirational place to study. Industry standard resources and cutting edge technology combine to make an interactive and highly advanced teaching and learning environment. Everything you could want is on one site with 25 acres of sport and leisure facilities, more than 1,000 rooms in halls of residence and fantastic modern spaces in which you can study and socialise.

The University library gives you access to thousands of books, journals, online resources and extensive PC and media provision. You'll get all the support you need to succeed, reflected in Edge Hill University being ranked in the top two in England for students' personal development, and the top three in the country for assessment and feedback, in the 2011 National Student Survey. The University is also featured in the top four in England for graduate employment.

How do I apply?

Apply online at www.ukpass.ac.uk.

Visit www.edgehill.ac.uk/applyukpass for more information on the application process.

Fees and Finance

Tuition fees for the MA English are £3,500pa for full-time study in academic year 2012/13. Part-time students on this programme in academic year 2012/13 will pay £1,750pa. Information for UK and EU students only.

Edge Hill graduates joining an eligible postgraduate programme at the University in academic year 2012/13 could benefit from a 20% reduction in tuition fees. If you're a UK or EU student and will be paying the fees yourself, you might be eligible to receive this discount. See www.edgehill.ac.uk/reducedfees for more information.

Where can I find out more?

If you would like to receive a copy of our prospectus or be kept updated about forthcoming events, contact the Course Information, Advice and Guidance Team by emailing study@edgehill.ac.uk or calling 01695 657000.

If you want to attend one of our open events held throughout the year, visit www.edgehill.ac.uk/postgradopendays to book your place.

You will also find Edge Hill University staff at many postgraduate study fairs taking place across the UK and Ireland.

Still want more?

If you have any questions you would like to ask the programme leader about this course, please contact:

• Dr Minna Vuohelainen, Department of English and History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP
• Tel: 01695 584363
• Email: minna.vuohelainen@edgehill.ac.uk

Overseas students should visit www.edgehill.ac.uk/international or email international@edgehill.ac.uk for further information.

Modules

You can exit this programme with a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma or complete the full MA.

Compulsory Modules

You will study the following three compulsory modules:

• Critical Approaches to Postgraduate Study in the Humanities: an introduction to key concepts, terms, and theories in the Humanities;
• Research Philosophies and Methodologies: an introduction to key concepts, themes, and terms employed in literary, historical and cultural research;
• Dissertation: the opportunity to undertake an in-depth and extended study within a chosen specific area.

Optional Modules

You will study four of the following modules, not all of which will be available in any one year.

• A Woman’s Coming to Writing: Women’s Narrative 1500-1700: a study of female-authored texts in the early modern period and of male-authored texts about women;
• Transforming the Public and Private Sphere: Women’s Narrative 1700-1800: an introduction to a range of eighteenth-century texts by women that explore the relationship between private and public space;
• From Female to Postfeminist Gothic: charting the movement from the female Gothic’s associations with second wave feminism to postfeminism;
• Women’s Narrative from 1900 to Now: a study of female-authored texts from 1900 to the present day with an emphasis on texts from the 1940s;
• Women and Popular Culture: examining the shifting representations of women in American and British popular culture from the 1960s to the present day;
• Angels in the House: Women’s Narrative 1800-1900: a study of gender and class across a range of Victorian texts written by women;
• Twentieth-Century African American Women’s Writing: analysing the writings of African American Women involved in the Civil Rights movements alongside creative writing by African American women authors;
• Transgressive Women’s Writing: Fatales, Grrls and Dangerous Women: examining mediated representations of transgressive women, figures both historical and fictional, who have flouted conventions;
• Hearts of Darkness: Imagining the Empire: a study, drawing upon postcolonial theory, of how empire has shaped British cultural identity;
• Cinema, History and American National Identity: exploring the construction and affirmation of American national identity as found in filmic representations of that nation’s history;
• The Victorian City: Image and Reality: investigating and analysing the image and reality of the Victorian city;
• Men and Supermen: Masculinities in Twentieth-Century Narratives: examining a range of twentieth-century texts that explore representations of masculinity and male identity in relation to current gender theory;
• Remembering the Holocaust: Memory, Identity and Trauma in the Twentieth Century: investigating a range of Holocaust memoir, biography and fiction to explore the constructions of memory and identity following the Second World War;
• Popular Culture 1880-1920: investigating the emergence of mainstream popular culture in Britain in the period 1880-1920;
• Re-making the Nation: Propaganda, Culture and Identity in the Second World War: examining the impact of the Second World War on the remodelling of British identity;
• Verbal and Visual Landscapes: The Art of Eighteenth-Century Poetry: drawing on recent theories of space, place and landscape, this module will examine the aesthetic nature of landscape in a variety of eighteenth-century poems;
• Cultures of Anatomy: exploring the representation of the human body in medical literature, the visual arts and literary texts (subject to validation).