Ways of Reading provides an overview of the skills and approaches necessary for the interpretation and evaluation of poetry, prose and drama. You will be introduced to a range of influential critical theories to literary texts from the early and mid 20th century. The module also encourages you to make practical applications of these approaches to the primary literary texts.

Critical Theories is based around the study of critical essays which have had a lasting impact on literary studies. The module introduces you to significant and contemporaneous ideas in literary criticism which scholars still implement in the 21st century. The content of the module has been selected to highlight the difference in literary studies between reading for understanding and interpretive readings.

Introduction to Literary Periods and Genres 1 focuses on the study of periodicity and genre. Beginning with contemporary poetry and short stories, the module will work backwards chronologically,  also introducing you to the Victorian novel and to Victorian drama, utilising an array of critical and contextual approaches to literature.

Introduction to Literary Periods and Genres 2 provides an overview of a number of major literary periods and genres, working backwards chronologically to study Romantic/Gothic poetry, the Romantic Gothic novel, a range of Renaissance poetry and a Renaissance play. You will also be introduced to an array of critical approaches to reading literary texts.

Introduction to Poetry guides you in the art of non-metrical poetry by concentrating upon shorter poems and upon building up techniques of perception, language and effect. This will be done in combination with the reading of poetry with the aim of integrating reading as a poet into an on-going practice of reflection. Emphasis will be placed upon journal writing and workshop practice.

Introduction to Fiction outlines the art of fiction by concentrating on shorter pieces, often referred to as ‘microfiction’. The module also builds up techniques of perception, language and effect, in combination with the reading of fiction, with the aim of integrating reading as a fiction writer into an on-going practice of reflection. Emphasis will be placed upon journal writing and workshop practice.

The Art of Poetry enables you to write in, and experiment with, a variety of styles, to read a range of contemporary and recent poetry, and to relate that reading to an on-going process of reflection that will feedback into a robust and inventive writing practice. Emphasis will be placed upon continuous journaling, intensive reading and workshop participation.

Writing Short Stories explores the nature of the short story form and its specific demands on the writer. You will produce your own short fiction, responding to the diversity of styles and genres adopted by short story authors. You will also be given guidance on potential outlets for your work.

Renaissance Literature: Self and Society explores the poetry and prose of the English Renaissance (c.1450-1685), bringing these two generic disciplines together under a series of common themes. You will evaluate the remarkable literary output of the reigns of up to ten monarchs, beginning with the Tudors. The complexity and diversity of Renaissance writing will be acknowledged and the period problematised as much as it is defined. You will explore canonical and non-canonical literature by both male and female authors . Key themes into which the module will be separated may include life and death, education, the family, crime and punishment, class and social mobility, nationalism (which could include changing reactions to monarchical power), exploration, spiritual controversy, gender and sexuality, power and self-fashioning.

Renaissance Drama explores the drama of the English Renaissance, a period of extraordinary civil and cultural change. The module evaluates the dramatic literary output of the reigns of up to ten monarchs beginning with the Tudors.  The diversity of Renaissance drama will be acknowledged and the period problematised as much as it is defined. You will explore canonical and non-canonical drama by male and female authors. Central themes and concepts under study may include monarchy, rebellion, class, nationalism, religion, heresy, superstition, witchcraft, gender and sexuality, power and self-fashioning.

Literature 1660-1760 provides a comprehensive introduction to texts, authors, genres and central themes from the Restoration in 1660 until the dawn of the Romantic period one hundred years later. Seeking to complicate and problematise critical concepts that have been increasingly challenged in recent decades, including ‘Augustanism’, ‘neo-classicism’ and ‘Enlightenment’, the module studies the notorious drama of the Restoration era, as well as a range of poetry, and the rise of the modern prose novel.

Romanticism provides an introduction to texts, authors, genres and central themes from the first stirrings of what has been traditionally conceived of as the Romantic age in the 1760s, until the dawn of the Victorian age seventy years later. Poetry, the prose essay and the novel are all studied on this module.

Texts in Motion: Film Adaptation introduces you to film adaptation and to the discourses and methodologies relevant to a critical understanding of one of the most common textual practices in Western culture. The module focuses, predominantly, on filmic adaptation of literary precursors, but also incorporates a consideration of adaptations based on sequential art.

Literature Dissertation Project provides an opportunity to study a topic of your choice in depth and develop your own ideas through individual research, culminating in the production of a 5,000-word long essay or ‘mini-dissertation’. The topic may develop a particular, pre-established interest or arise from a desire to study an issue or subject in more depth.

Literature and Globalisation recognises that as global forces are now seen to influence the local and the everyday, a global perspective is a necessary prerequisite to the study of literature. This module examines the relationship between contemporary literary production and the forces of globalisation. Drawing on relevant theoretical perspectives, consideration will be given to the ways in which writers address questions about the local and the global and the movement and flows of people and commodities. The module will examine both critical and literary responses to commodity culture and interrogate representations of  migrants, exiles, and cosmopolitan and diasporic figures in a range of literatures in English.

Literatures of Conflict provides an opportunity to study the representation of war and conflict in a range of literary texts, situated in their historical and cultural contexts. In its exploration of the impact of warfare on literary form and content, the module seeks to understand how and why the representation of warfare has changed over time. The module will enhance your skills in close reading as well as furthering your understanding of relevant cultural and historical contexts.

About Love explores representations of romantic and/or sexual love in texts written, or set, in Anglo-American culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. The module synthesises high-cultural and popular-cultural primary sources, reading them in the context of key critical and cultural theorisations of love, bringing together narratives of desire in three key contexts: ‘falling in love’, ‘staying in love’ and ‘love after love’.

Modern American Literature: 1865 to the Present Day is centred on the study of a wide range of American literature that was written and/or published between the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and the present day. The module offers an opportunity to study American poetry, prose and drama within its historical, social, cultural, political, critical and theoretical contexts.

Pilgrims Progress: British Children’s Literature from the 18th Century to the Present Day explores British children’s literature from its origins in the eighteenth century. The module progresses through the Romantic period’s celebration of childhood and Victorian ambiguities about the angelic versus the feral child, to the Golden Age of the Edwardian period and beyond into territory darkened by war, overshadowed by the implications of empire, and the oncoming of adolescence. The module will analyse the relationships between children and adults, nature, animals, class, gender, race and sexuality, underpinned by theoretical and methodological approaches to the history and representation of childhood in literature.

Producing a Literary Publication enables you to make a direct connection between the subject matter of your degree and your plans for a graduate career. You will work collaboratively towards producing one of a range of possible literary publications while reflecting on and evaluating your ability to do so.

Special Author 1 focuses on a single author (such as Hardy or Dickens) or a related group of authors (such as the Brontës) whose works are sufficiently extensive to merit a whole semester’s study. You will examine the author’s work in the light of recent critical and theoretical approaches to authorship and canonicity and develop an ability to theorise the relationship between an author and his/her literary work. You will acquire a specialist knowledge of a literary period and a major writer through examination of the author’s development in relation to relevant historical, cultural and literary contexts.

Satire in the Long Eighteenth Century studies the works of what has traditionally been characterised as the ‘Great Age of Satire’, incorporating study of prose, poetry and drama between the Restoration and the end of the Romantic period. The module begins by situating 18th century satire within its literary and cultural precedents before proceeding to focus on the style, technique, politics, motives, purposes, targets and effects of a wide range of satirical texts.

Writing the Female Body compares important textual representations of the female body in English Literature from the medieval and contemporary periods. Covering a range of literary genres, the module places literary works in their historical and cultural contexts and theorises literary representations of the body using contemporary gender theory. Using texts from both medieval and modern periods, you will explore change and continuity in the representation(s) of the female form over time. Contemporary attitudes to embodiment are vivified as part of an historical continuum and past and present textual representations of body read as signifiers of cultural values.

Writing the Supernatural explores the textual representation(s) of the supernatural (of ghosts, haunting, and the haunted) in key works of English Literature from the 19th century to now. The module focuses on three key genres – short fiction/novella, the novel, and drama – drawing comparisons and contrasts between their revelation of the supernatural. The negotiations of the textual representation of fear, as well as the dramatic generation of terror and dread, are central focuses of the module. The extent to which supernatural writing is culturally anxious, about, for example, issues of class, gender, race and faith, will also be explored.

Rogues’ Gallery: Crime and Criminality in the Long 19th Century explores the public fascination with crime, criminals and criminal law, so evidently manifest in the literature of the long 19th century (approximately 1789-1914). The module examines a range of literary genres associated with crime writing, including the Newgate Novel, the Sensation Novel and the detective story, in the context of the criminological and penal debates of the period. The module makes extensive use of digital research tools, enabling you to conduct your own primary research and providing you with valuable research skills.

Vampire Fictions traces the cultural history of the vampire from the early nineteenth century to the present day, revealing how it can be considered a remarkably adaptable monster, found in a range of texts produced in diverse cultural contexts. Considering both canonical and popular vampire fictions, the module charts the evolution of the vampire, examining the multiple meanings of this figure in diverse historical and cultural contexts and through a variety of critical approaches.

Poetry and Innovative Form enables you to practice advanced techniques and develop innovative strategies for writing poetry, while reading a range of contemporary works (including emergent forms) and reflecting upon the reading and writing. You will feed the resultant poetics of this writing back into a developed poetic practice. Emphasis will be placed upon autonomous and continuous writing practice and experimentation and the development of a poetics of writing to accompany and fortify this, as well as reading poetry as a fellow-practitioner and developing this work and awareness through workshop participation.

Advanced Fiction provides you with the opportunity to write fiction at an advanced level, with a particular focus on the novel and the short story sequence. Using increasingly complex themes and techniques, you will establish a growing sense of autonomy as a writer, shaped by the reading of fiction and also your own continuous writing practice. You are also encouraged to experiment with form and genre and to consider potential publishing outlets for your work.

The Victorians At Work recognises that Victorians saw literature as a form of social commentary. This period survey module explores Victorian prose and poetry that addressed the pressing social and cultural questions of the period, such as the impacts of industrialisation, urbanisation, scientific advance and secularisation. You will examine the work of a range of canonical and popular Victorian authors and place their writing in the relevant literary, cultural and historical contexts.

The Victorians At Play acknowledges that the Victorians are often believed to have been straitlaced and prudish but suggests that their evident zest for entertainment, sensation, consumerism, spectacle and scandal is frequently overlooked. The module examines the period’s interest in the sensational and the scandalous through explorations of topical questions of gender and sexuality in characteristic Victorian texts, charting how contemporary social and cultural issues were transformed into the subject matter of popular culture.

Modernisms develops your understanding and appreciation of the key features of early 20th century movements in the literary arts. The module will examine a range of different forms, styles and practices in order to focus on the heterogeneous interpretations of the term modernism and engage with ongoing debates in modernist studies.

Contemporary Literature in English develops your understanding and appreciation of the key features of late 20th century and early 21st century movements in the literary arts. The module examines aesthetic paradigms relevant to the period including realism, the postmodern, late modernism and metafiction. The aim is to understand the continuations and reactions to the earlier Modernist period.

Gothic Romanticism examines Romanticism’s Gothic impulse during the period 1764-1830. Each week, you will analyse key literary texts from the period – including poetry, and both prose fiction and non-fiction – alongside a theoretical issue in order to establish a critical vocabulary from which to interpret and understand Gothic’s many Romantic manifestations. By considering the historical, cultural, aesthetic and ideological background to this mode of writing, you will trace the ways in which the Gothic Romance is both a conservative and a reactionary genre, supporting and challenging our conceptions of the various dichotomies that define it.

Literature Dissertation provides you with the opportunity to study any topic of your choice in depth, developing your own ideas through individual research. The topic may be a particular interest of yours or arise from a desire to study an issue or subject relevant to English Literature in greater detail. You will plan, develop and write an individually conceived and researched independent critical investigation culminating in the production of an extended dissertation.

Early American Literature: 1500-1865 provides an opportunity to study a wide range of American Literature that was written and/or published in the period up until the end of the American Civil War (1865). The module offers an opportunity to study early American prose and poetry within its historical, social, cultural, political and critical/theoretical contexts.

Hosting a Literary Festival enables you to make a direct connection between the subject matter of your degree and your plans for a graduate career by engaging with workplace practice via a group project. You will work collaboratively to research, plan and initiate an in-house literary festival while reflecting on and evaluating your ability to do so.

Narratives of Nation and Empire traces the narratives of the British nation, its imperialist encounters, and the rise of English literature, from the early modern period to the twentieth-century dismantling of empire. The module engages with the corresponding literary critiques and recreations of the colonial past. Through the identification of the intersections of imperialism and textual representation, the module will problematise traditional theoretical assumptions with regard to national identity and developments in English literature. Representations of Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Far East will be examined to determine how far they reflect on the contemporary politics and depict the figure of the other as a form of self-fashioning or critique.

Neo-Victorian Literature and Culture is a prominent form of postmodern popular and literary culture in which writers and directors re-imagine the 19th century through a contemporary lens. The module enables you to study prominent examples of neo-Victorian literature and culture in the context of recent critical theory. It will alert you to neo-Victorian practices of intertextuality, historical metanarrative and ‘writing back’.

Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll: Young Adult Fiction analyses the recent marketing phenomenon of young adult fiction, focusing on 21st century literature aimed at a specifically teenage market. Young adult fiction is characterised by its transgression of taboos. The module will be structured around an exploration of these explicit, illicit areas of interest. Alongside the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll of the title, the module will engage with representations of mental and physical illness, pregnancy, violence, abuse, economic and social collapse, and ecological disaster. Underpinning your studies will be theoretical and critical material on adolescence, contemporary literature, and the growing body of work on young adult fiction itself.

Special Author 2 focuses on a single author (such as Christopher Marlowe, Jane Austen or Angela Carter) or related group of authors (such as the Brontës) whose works are sufficiently extensive to justify a whole semester’s study. The module will examine the author’s work in the light of recent critical and theoretical approaches to authorship and canonicity, and develop an ability to theorise the relationship between an author and his or her literary work. You will acquire a specialist knowledge of a literary period and a major writer through examination of the author’s development in relation to relevant historical, cultural and literary contexts.

Sexuality and Subversion is devoted to the critical analysis of textual representations of sexuality and especially of same-sex desire and sexual dissidence in British prose. The module focuses mainly on the novel, but also on key autobiographical prose texts, from the 19th century to now (with particular focus on the 20th century). It problematises perceptions that sexual radicalism originated in the late 20th century by interrogating its earlier textual representation(s). Texts, their contexts, and relevant literary and cultural theories combine to reveal the changes and continuities in the textual representation of subversive and dissident sexualities and sexual identities over time.

The Shakespeare Problem asks what is a national poet, why is Shakespeare considered the pre-eminent author of the English-speaking world, what historical factors can account for the Shakespeare phenomenon, and what ideological implications might it have? The module addresses canonical literature but also questions the processes and validity of the canon. You will analyse the formation of a literary icon and unravel the enduring myths of universality and natural genius associated with his name. The module will also address questions of genre in Shakespeare, paying special attention to the plays which hybridise, destabilise, or subvert traditional genres, in order to examine an ongoing process of critical change.

Late-Victorian Gothic introduces you to the gothic revival of the late 19th century, focusing on gothic fiction produced in the 1880s and the 1890s. You will encounter both well-known and relatively obscure gothic texts and explore parallels between their key themes. The module examines gothic fiction of the period alongside contemporary social and cultural developments (e.g. urban poverty, crime, imperial anxieties, immigration, fear of degeneration, changing gender roles) and a range of current critical theories (e.g. genre studies of the gothic mode, theories of urban space).

Dickens and Popular Culture explores a range of Dickens’ work within the context of mass culture. This will include discussion of his journalism, plays and short stories as well as the well-known novels. You will look at the development of Dickens’ career as the most successful and popular novelist of his generation, who used a range of popular forms and conventions such as caricature, popular entertainment, melodrama, gothic, crime, ghost stories and reportage to investigate and actively participate in a wide range of contemporary issues and debates about Victorian society such as the family, the city, education and poverty. The module will also consider Dickens’ career as an author and editor of Household Words and All Year Round in the rapidly developing literary marketplace and Dickens’ status as a national and international celebrity. The module will conclude with a consideration of the Dickens ‘industry’ and the appropriation of ‘Dickensian’ in both Victorian and contemporary societies.

Speculative Fiction critically and analytically considers a range of Anglophone speculative fiction published after 1895. The emphasis is on literary speculations regarding technological, environmental and social change and on encounters with the ‘other’, all contextualised according to relevant cultural milieux. Subject matter is likely to include a selection from utopian and anti-utopian fiction, apocalyptic literature, colonial and postcolonial speculations, time travel tales, space opera, philosophical texts, and works that question or problematise notions of gender. In each case, selected critical methodologies, including feminism, postcolonial approaches and other relevant theoretical discourses will be applied.

A Language module is now available as a Year 3 option, providing Language modules were studied in Years 1 and 2.

Although the broad themes of the programme remain largely the same, the vast majority of modules have been replaced by new/updated versions, with a small number of additional modules added. This new programme structure is being implemented from September 2016 entry.

There is also now the option of selecting a Language module in French, Spanish or Mandarin as an integral part of this degree in Year 1. A Language module is also available as a Year 2 option, providing a Language module was studied in Year 1.