BA(Hons) English Literature

This interdisciplinary module will explore the complex world of stories across creative writing, film, language, literature, history and media. You'll consider the personal, public and political importance of storytelling, investigating how narratives are created, communicated and interpreted within different disciplines. Through subject-specific and interdisciplinary learning activities, you'll recognise connections between different forms of storytelling. Along the way, you'll develop critical literacy and the skills needed to navigate and shape a world structured by stories, while examining the ethical dimensions of individual, collective and disciplinary practices.

Designed as an introduction to studying English literature at university, this module will develop the critical and analytical skills needed to engage with a wide range of texts. You'll learn close-reading techniques, including approaches to prosody and narrative analysis, and explore critical perspectives that may include humanist approaches. Topics are likely to cover detailed analysis across varied literary forms. Through lectures, workshops, seminars and tutorials, you'll strengthen your ability to interpret texts, evaluate critical arguments and communicate well-supported literary readings.

This module will introduce you to adult literature about childhood and literature written for children. You'll examine how writing for and about children shapes, constructs and critiques changing ideas of childhood within wider culture. Topics will include the ideologies readers may internalise, the radical possibilities hidden beneath apparent conservatism, and the place of the child in society through narrative, memory and identity. Contemporary retellings will help you consider how literature continues to influence beliefs about childhood, while developing your critical, digital and reflective writing skills.

This module will explore literature as both a cultural and commercial product, examining how it operates within and beyond academia. You'll consider the role of the author in the marketplace and investigate ideas of authorship, canonicity, consumption and reception across a range of texts. The module will help you understand how literature is experienced and valued by the public, including its cultural and economic significance. You'll also examine how literary works can generate creative responses in different media, developing your critical awareness of literature's wider circulation and influence.

This module will invite you to explore possible human futures through creative practice, research and critical enquiry. You'll consider how social, cultural, technological and environmental change may influence the ways people live, work and relate to one another. By examining contemporary questions and speculative possibilities, you'll develop ideas that connect your subject practice with wider concerns. The module will encourage experimentation, collaboration and reflection, helping you communicate responses to complex issues and consider how creative work can contribute to imagining and shaping future worlds.

In this module, you'll critically examine relationships between literature, law, responsibility and citizenship. You'll explore how literature responds to and shapes global narratives and policies, and how literary and political concerns come together or collide. Historical and cultural contexts will support discussion of diverse viewpoints, with key themes that may include civil rights, gender equality and migration. Through presentations, written argument and opportunities to write creatively or use digital technologies, you'll strengthen your critical thinking, communication and preparation for more independent study.

In this module, you'll investigate the productive tensions between literature and society during the Victorian period, from 1837 to 1901. You'll study a range of texts that respond to social, cultural and historical change, considering how literary form both reflects and challenges contemporary debates. Close reading and contextual research will help you identify points of conflict, uncertainty and transformation. Through comparing texts and engaging with critical perspectives, you'll develop your ability to analyse Victorian writing and construct well-supported arguments about its relationships with society.

The Humanities Research Project will give you the opportunity to undertake an extended, self-directed investigation within your chosen discipline. You'll develop a research proposal, refine your methodology and manage a substantial independent project while building skills in planning, organisation and scholarly enquiry. Opportunities for supervision, discussion and interdisciplinary exchange will support your development throughout the module. As your project progresses, you'll learn to communicate findings clearly, evaluate challenges critically and reflect on your personal learning journey, producing research that contributes to wider humanities knowledge and understanding.

This module will deepen your understanding of how literature engages with existential questions, from the climate crisis to artificial intelligence and the post-human. You'll study diverse texts ranging from classical utopian and dystopian writing to contemporary fiction responding to current crises. Through close analysis, you'll connect literary works with cultural, socio-political and scientific debates. Topics may include climate migration, future technologies, speculative futures, race, gender and sexuality, helping you evaluate how literature imagines global challenges, possible futures and changing ideas about human life.