2023/24 Taught Postgraduate Programme Catalogue
MA English Literature
| Programme code: | MA-ENGLIT | UCAS code: | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: | 12 Months | Method of Attendance: | Full Time |
| Programme manager: | Dr José A. Pérez Díez | Contact address: | J.A.PerezDiez@leeds.ac.uk |
Total credits: 180
Entry requirements:
Good honours degree (First or 2:i or its equivalent) in English Literature, or a degree scheme including English Literature, or in a related subject. Appropriate IELTS where applicable.
School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:
School of English
Examination board through which the programme will be considered:
School of English
Programme specification:
The programme provides its students with the opportunity to engage in the postgraduate study of English Literature at the highest level. One of the longest-established MA programmes in English Literature in the UK, this programme offers a truly massive range of choice, from Arthurian Legend to Victorian New Media; from early modern political figureheads to contemporary representations of US citizenship and belonging.
Students take one thematic module, ‘Writing Places and Identities’, and select from a wide variety of specialist options reflecting the historical, geographical and theoretical range of literature in English. Areas in which the school has been traditionally renowned – most notably Postcolonial Studies, Victorian Literature, Medieval and Renaissance Literatures – are generously represented. A varied portfolio of modules from the fields of American Literature and Culture, Romantic Literature, Modern, and Contemporary Literatures is also available. The MA in English Literature programme also has access to exciting learning opportunities in Creative Writing, Digital Humanities and English Language. Staff members of the School of English represent a broad intellectual range in English literary studies and adjacent disciplines, including memory studies, eco-criticism, medical humanities, performance, textual studies, critical editing, and the study of temporality, along with other important and emergent fields. In the latter half of the MA programme, students undertake a research project on a subject of their choice (within any area of English Literature), supported by specialist supervision.
Throughout the year there is a wide range of intellectual and social activities available to our MA students, including research talks, reading groups, excursions, and access to the exceptional holdings in the University’s Special Collections in the Brotherton Library. The opportunities afforded by these activities will complement the rigour and variety of the more formal learning opportunities offered by this programme.
This rich, distinctive programme creates opportunities to develop existing enthusiasms for many fields, and to explore areas which may not have figured significantly in previous (undergraduate) studies. It provides knowledge and training in skills that are recognised and respected by employers in diverse industries – our alumni have gone on to be, for example, educators, publishers, policy makers, and journalists – and the programme also affords an excellent platform for progressing to doctoral level research.
Year1 - View timetable
[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
Students are required to take 180 credits in total: 90 credits of compulsory modules and 90 credits of optional modules. Students are free to choose optional modules according to their areas of interest, but they must ensure they have an even split of total credits between Semester 1 and Semester 2 e.g. one optional module in semester 1 and two optional modules in semester 2.
Compulsory modules:
Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:
| ENGL5550M | Writing Places and Identities | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5842M | Research Project | 60 credits | 1 Dec to 30 Sep |
Optional modules:
Students must take 90 credits of optional modules, which can be selected from any basket(s).
Students should select one optional module running in semester 1, and two optional modules running in semester 2.
The module lists are grouped into three lists, or baskets. These are organised thematically, reflecting the scope and focus of the options available.
Basket 1 (Periods):
| ENGL5117M | Romantic Identities: Literary Constructions of the Self, 1789-1821 | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5756M | Fictions of Citizenship in Contemporary American Literature | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5760M | The Enigmatic Body of Modernism | 30 credits | Not running in 202324 | |
| ENGL5834M | Romantic Ecologies | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5847M | War, Mourning, Memory: 1914-1939 | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5860M | Turks, Moors, and Jews: Race and Identity in English Renaissance Drama | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| MEDV5235M | Medieval English | 30 credits | Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) |
Basket 2 (Theme: Zoomed in):
| ENGL5100M | The Long Poem: Self, Land, Witness | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5346M | So Where do you come from? Selves, Families, Stories | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5540M | Thinking With the Contemporary Novel | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5666M | Ways of Reading: Novels in the Age of Information Excess | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5722M | Writing about Death in Nineteenth-Century America | 30 credits | Not running in 202324 | |
| ENGL5737M | Postcolonialism, Animals and the Environment | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5817M | Shakespeare's Tyrants | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5830M | Apprentices to Life: The Nineteenth-Century Bildungsroman | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5950M | George Orwell: The Politics of Literature | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| MEDV5245M | Old Norse | 30 credits | Not running in 202324 |
Basket 3 (Theme: Zoomed out):
| ENGL5105M | Caribbean and Black British Writing | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5343M | Africas of the Mind | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5345M | Reading (with) Psychoanalysis | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5530M | Fictional English and English Fictions | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5664M | Medical Humanities: Representing Illness, Disability, and Care | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5665M | The Digital & English Studies | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5828M | Global Indigeneity | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5831M | Feeling Time | 30 credits | Not running in 202324 | |
| ENGL5846M | Literature and the Politics of Language | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5940M | Planetary Aesthetics: Animism, Mimesis and Indigeneity | 30 credits | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| MEDV5100M | Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age | 30 credits | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) |
There are also additional modules cross-listed from other schools that students are able to choose within the three option module slots. These include:
- MEDV5235M Medieval English (Sem 1 and 2) (Basket 1)
- MEDV5245M Old Norse (Sem 2) (Basket 2)
- MEDV5100M Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age (Sem 2) (Basket 3)
Elective modules:
Students may also choose to take one 30 credit MA level module in a related subject from outside of the School of English. This is subject to availability, and the approval of the Programme Leader and Module Convenor.
Last updated: 11/09/2023 11:15:02
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- Undergraduate module catalogue
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- Taught Postgraduate programme catalogue
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