The following materials provide a taste of undergraduate modules in English.

A230 Reading and Studying Literature

Reading and studying literature builds on the introductory modules in arts and humanities, The arts past and present (AA100) and Voices and texts (A150). It will introduce you to the study of English literature by looking at a selection of texts from the Renaissance to the present day. The course offers a stimulating mix of classic texts and less well-known works from a range of genres, including drama, poetry and prose fiction as well as autobiography, travel-writing and film. An overarching concern of the course is the uses we make in the present of the literature of the past. You can see more taster materials or  find out more about this module from the Study at the OU website.

A334 English Literature from Shakespeare to Austen

This module takes you on an engaging journey through a diverse selection of great literature from 1570 to 1818. You will focus on two globally recognised writers in English: the playwright William Shakespeare and the novelist, Jane Austen. Your literary journey from Shakespeare to Austen will include Renaissance poetry (Donne, Spenser) and drama (Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy), Restoration comedy (Wycherley, The Country Wife), 18th century fiction (Swift, Gulliver’s Travels), Oriental tales (Arabian Nights), travel writing (Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters), autobiography (Rousseau, Confessions) and Romantic ballads.

Find out more about this module, including a detailed module description, including a list of the materials you will study.

A335 Literature in transition: from 1800 to the present

This module draws you into the main currents of literature from 1800 to the present day. You will engage with some of the most stimulating literary works ever written, and track the seismic historical transitions and transformations relevant to them – with an eye on our present and the future. Numerous major authors are offered for close critical study (Dickens, Tennyson, Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Winterson, and others), alongside exciting but relatively neglected authors. Influential literary movements and critical interventions will be discussed, while leaving ample space for your own ideas. The module has three parts: Realities, Movements, Futures.

Our series of short films Women Writers: Voices in Transition gives a sense of some of the issues considered by this module. The films include Delia Da Sousa Correa on Katherine Mansfield; Sue Asbee on Virginia Woolf; Steve Padley on Jean Rhys; and Fiona Doloughan on Jeanette Winterson.

Watch the films on YouTube.

Find out more about this module including a detailed module description, including a list of the materials you will study.