English – Contemporary Literature MA

Course Content

• Course Details

  The English – Contemporary Literature MA programme is built to encourage you to not only examine the contemporary moment – our time, our culture – in isolation, but to use contemporary literature as a window to broader concerns: literary traditions and heritage, politics and society, personal identity and representation.

  Full-time English Literature Masters students will take two 30 credit modules in each of two terms, followed by the dissertation. The four modules to be offered in any given year are pre-selected by the tutors from the list below.

  Part-time students can take the course over two or three years. In both cases, the first year will contain one module in each of two terms, amounting to 60 credits. If you choose to study over two years, the second year will contain one module in each of two terms, plus the dissertation, amounting to 120 credits.

  If you choose to study over three years, the second year will contain one module in each of two terms, amounting to 60 credits, and the third year will involve the dissertation only, to make up the final 60 credits (please note: student loans are not normally available to those studying the three-year option).

  All modules will be taught in the evenings (6-9pm) allowing you to take your English Literature masters degree entirely outside of normal working hours.

  Dissertation

  The dissertation, provides greater opportunity for choice of topics and allows you the chance to master a specific area reflecting your own interests and chosen approaches.

  Please note the modules shown here relate to the academic year 24/25. The modules relating to the academic year 25/26 will be available from June 2025.

  • Stage 1
    • Critical Theory and Methodologies (30 Credits)
      Module code: LITM033

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to introduce students to a variety of methods applicable to research in contemporary literary and cultural studies. It delivers key guidance on master?s level study, promotes an informed awareness of theoretical models, and helps students use theoretical concepts in textual analysis.
    • Trauma Fiction (30 Credits)
      Module code: LITM040

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to examine trauma literature since the 1980s in the context of contemporary trauma theory. Focussing on concepts such as unrepresentability, aporia and narrative rupture, it analyses the relationship between narrative form and traumatic subject matter and how texts transform traumatic memory into narrative events.
    • Literary Transmediations (30 Credits)
      Module code: LITM041

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to explore the nature of adaptation in popular media and the different ways it has been studied. Adaptation occurs between many different forms and modes and the module will examine new and different ways to view adaptation as, for example, translation, appropriation, or reimagining.
    • Shakespeare our Contemporary: Text and Screen (30 Credits)
      Module code: LITM042

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to examine Shakespeare as a facet of contemporary culture, principally through its manifestations in recent fiction and film. Discussions of Shakespeare?s cultural ubiquity and longevity will be framed by concepts such as power, ideology, discourse, hegemony, presentism, appropriation, adaptation, and performance.
    • Dissertation (60 Credits)
      Module code: LITM043

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to provide an opportunity to carry out independent research of considerable depth over a sustained period of time on a topic of their own choosing, working with a supervisor to build on and extend scholarly understanding of contemporary literature.

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• FAQs

  How will I be taught on English – Contemporary Literature MA?

  Modules are taught face to face in small groups, with occasional preparatory work and consolidation activities that are completed online, with tutor guidance.

  How will I be assessed on the English Literature Masters?

  Assessment varies from module to module, but there are currently no exams for this course. Previous modules have used annotated bibliographies, essays, online discussion forums, critical explications and presentations as forms of assessment. Your final assessment consists of a 15,000 word dissertation.

  Are there any specialist facilities and features?

  You will benefit from

  • a specialist understanding of contemporary culture
  • close attention from staff with research expertise
  • freedom to choose your own dissertation topic for in-depth research

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