Literature and Transatlanticism – (M.Sc.)

Transatlantic Literary Studies, the particular concern of this degree, concerns itself explicitly with transatlantic texts and comparisons. Cultural transatlanticism is on the one hand much discussed in relation to trans- and post-nationalist political and cultural studies, while on the other, comparative practice in transatlantic literary studies has to date been relatively unreflective about its methods and assumptions. What sort of models might be available for this new field of transatlantic literary studies? These are some of the issues that the MSc degree will address. The first course to bring together examples of the critical and theoretical models that have influenced and continue to define this rapidly expanding field, it offers a range of instances of comparative thinking that focuses some of these questions about literary history. The course offers students an introduction to the study of the literatures and cultures of the Atlantic civilisation, and those complex interchanges between the Americas, Europe and Africa which are a fundamental feature of modern life. In particular, this degree focuses on the transnational and multilingual networks of Atlantic literatures, ranging across English, Spanish, and French-speaking countries, and the three continents concerned, as well as on the historical and intellectual interactions between the cultures of the Atlantic civilisation.

This unique course is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, and draws on a wide range of scholarly expertise within the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures. The course aims to foster an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach to the study of literature. The course is distinctive in treating the Atlantic as a single, complex space of analysis: rather than examining `English´ or `American´ literature as a discrete body of writing, the course seeks to examine the interactions between literatures in a range of languages distributed around the Atlantic. Candidates are encouraged to think about literature and culture in terms which move beyond the national towards an explicitly intercultural and comparative perspective.

This course aims to

* Introduce key concepts and theories of transatlanticism.
* Place the exploration and analysis of culture into a comparative and transnational context.
* Generate critical and theoretical models for the new field of Transatlantic Literary Studies
* Explore the transnational and multilingual networks of Atlantic cultures, ranging across English, Spanish, and French-speaking countries.
* Emphasise points of intersection between Atlantic cultures and such processes as creolisation, hybridity and translation which reveal how cultures have been reworked and reinscribed by the transatlantic movement of people, ideas and cultural artefacts.