Comparative Literary Studies: American Literature & Culture MA – (M.A.)

Contents

This pathway of the MA in Comparative Literary Studies aims to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the literature that has sought to define or has emerged from “America”. The core course which is at the centre of this pathway, "American Literature & Culture: Critical and Theoretical Concepts", will engage you in a rigorous study of particular phases and applications of American literary criticism and theory, as well as consolidate your knowledge of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature.

In particular, you will study some of the ways in which nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature sought to understand the nation in the face of the fragmenting effects of modernity and postmodernity; competing readings of canonical American texts will enable you to assess how American critical and theoretical conceptions shape American literature, producing different “Americas”.

While the core course gives you a strong grounding in this field, the flexible structure of the MA will offer you the opportunity to pursue your wider interests by studying three options from the large provision of the department, choosing at least one of these in an area that is relevant to the literature and culture of the Americas. Core course and options will draw on a variety of medias (verbal, visual, filmic). Both the core course and the options are taught by leading specialists of the subject.

You will be able to further develop your interest in American literature and culture through a 15,000-word dissertation to be submitted at the end of your programme of study.

All texts will be studied in English, in English translation, or, in the case of films, with English subtitles.