Book History and Publishing Culture – (M.A.)

Contents

Course length

Full-time: MA: 12 months, PGDip: 9 months
Part-time: MA: 24 months, PGDip: 18 months

The MA consists of 180 credits. 60 credits are derived from the compulsory modules, 60 credits from elective modules and 60 credits from the dissertation.

Modules may change from time to time; an indicative list is shown below.

Compulsory modules

* Book History: Theories and Approaches (40 credits). Theoretical debates in the study of book history and introduction to research, including archival and primary research. Approaches to print and publishing culture with reference to a range of case studies in 20th-century publishing history.


* The History and Culture of Publishing (20 credits). Exploration of print history narratives; propaganda and censorship; publishing and the marketplace; colonialism, postcolonialism and publishing; feminist publishing; media concentration and globalisation in publishing; literary prize culture and the digital text.


* The Dissertation (60 credits) can cover any aspect of book history or publishing culture, as agreed with your supervisor.



Elective modules

* E-Publishing (20 credits) enables you to engage with the dynamic nature of a rapidly evolving part of the publishing industry. Through lectures, workshops, and talks from industry speakers, you are introduced to both the strategic and practical sides of e-publishing.



* Publishing and Language Issues (20 credits) examines how language issues are affecting the development of publishing in an international context. It looks at these issues from the perspective of publishing in world languages (eg English, French), in major national and international languages (eg Chinese, Arabic) and in more local languages (eg Finnish, Kiswahili, Bengali).



* Children's Publishing (20 credits) explores the development of the market sector, and the current shape and business practices of publishing for children and young adults. Topics include picture books, co-editions and translatability; the sector's links to other leisure industries, merchandising and content reuse; editing and censorship; age ranging and gatekeeping; literacy and reading campaigns; and promotion.



* Independent Study in Publishing (20 credits) offers you the opportunity to design a course of study to suit your own interests and concerns, to organise and carry out a work schedule set by yourself, and to determine a set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria in collaboration with the module leader and a supervisor.


* Romanticisms (40 credits). This module is designed to complicate understanding of the literary period known as 'Romantic' through a range of contrasting and contesting texts, contexts and positions emergent in Britain in the period 1780-1832.


* 20th-Century Texts (40 credits). This module covers a range of genres, writers and forms of the 20th century and provides the opportunity to consider some of the ideas central to 20th-century writing and culture.


* Modern and Contemporary Poetry (40 credits). This is a broad-ranging course, tracing the interconnections and negotiations between modernist and subsequent poetries, as well as addressing issues of gender and performance.


* Victorian Texts (40 credits). This module covers a range of genres, writers and forms of the Victorian period and provides the opportunity to consider some of the ideas central to 19th-century writing and culture.


* Modern and Contemporary Fiction (40 credits). This module offers students the opportunity to engage with a number of texts written in the 20th and 21st centuries.


* Race, Empire and Colonisation (40 credits). This module will investigate the development and influence of concepts of race in Europe – chiefly Great Britain - and overseas colonies, and examine their relationship to imperialism.


* Britain and Europe 1950 - 1990 (40 credits). This module will examine Britain’s relationship with the ‘Common Market’/ EEC/ EC/ EU since the Second World War. Students will be given the opportunity to study the fundamental issues that have pre-occupied historians of international relations, politics, Anglo-American relations and the history of European Union integration.