Modules

Arts and languages Access module (Y031)

Are you new to higher education study or returning after a break? This Access module – which presents several times a year and is designed to develop the key skills required for successful university study – is an ideal starting point. You may even be able to study for free. This module includes case studies from the field of art history, including one centred on the Turner prize. It also explores a range of other subjects, including English literature, English language studies, history and modern languages to prepare you for a wide range of qualifications. The theme of popular protest runs throughout the module and is used to link the various subject areas. This module will also gently introduce you to computing and online learning; the perfect way to gain the study skills you’ll need for the next step in your studies.

Discovering the arts and humanities (A111)

A111 will introduce you to the study of the arts and humanities at university level. It is an interdisciplinary module, which presents a broad survey of works of art and literature, people, events, practices and ideas in a period ranging from about three thousand years ago to today. You'll think about the kind of knowledge and understanding that is gained through the study of the arts and humanities and why this matters. The module is structured around three themes: ‘reputations’, ‘traditions’, and ‘crossing boundaries’. A111 is therefore an ideal starting point for further study of art history, which will enable you to develop your academic skills before proceeding to study at higher levels.

Reading and studying literature (A230)

Reading and studying literature builds on the introductory modules in arts and humanities, The arts past and present (AA100), and Voices, texts and material culture (A105). 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 module 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 module is the uses we make in the present of the literature of the past.
Telling stories – the novel and beyond (A233)

How have writers chosen to tell their stories, and why? What techniques do they use to make us believe in the reality of the worlds they create? If you’re interested in finding out in depth about how literature works this module is for you. You'll read gripping stories from across literary history, from Shakespeare to science fiction, from Thomas Hardy to Arundhati Roy, with a particular focus on nineteenth- and twentieth-century novels.

English literature from Shakespeare to Austen (A334)

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.
Literature in transition: from 1800 to the present (A335)

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.

MA English literature part 1 (A893)

Our MA in English Literature introduces you to studying literature ‘in the world’ across three broad themes: ‘Literature and the Popular’, ‘Literature and Revolution’ and ‘Literature and the Global’. You’ll also have a wide choice of optional texts: from early-modern manuscripts to detective fiction; and from classical tragedy to the global short story. You’ll encounter actual archives and databases and be introduced to digitised manuscripts and other original materials as you develop skills in research and analysis. You’ll also work like a professional researcher using specific approaches, following up clues, reviewing context, and making exciting discoveries about your topic.
MA English literature part 2 (A894)

This module requires you to produce a dissertation on a subject in Literary Studies of your own choice. The opening block guides you in drafting a detailed research proposal, and also introduces strategies for communicating your research to non-university audiences. The remainder of the module is dedicated to writing the dissertation. Working in close dialogue with your own personal tutor, you'll proceed from the initial proposal to submit drafts of the first two chapters before submitting the final dissertation.