Modules

Core modules Fundamentals of World Literature This module's working thesis is that the dominant models of post-war literary studies are no longer tenable and that the ‘linguistic turn’ of High Theory during the last quarter of the twentieth century was a compensatory gesture that delayed, but could not remove, the intrinsic crisis in comparative literary studies. The module also aims to suggest ways in which the current disjunction between cultural studies, modern languages, and postcolonialism can be coherently bridged through comparative analyses of a society's incorporation into the capitalist world-economy. Dissertation The Dissertation offers you the opportunity to pursue your own distinct research interests. You can develop any idea you’ve discovered in your modules or write on a completely new topic that has always fascinated you. Our students choose an array of topics within the broadly-conceived boundaries of ‘literary studies’, although we’ll discuss your plans with you to make sure an available member of our teaching staff can support your topic. Students often use their MA dissertations as springboards to PhD projects and have sometimes gone on to publish parts of their work in scholarly journals. Optional modules Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• Petrofiction: Studies in World Literature

• Narratives of American Empire

• World Literature and the Anthropocene

• Theory from the Margins: Postcolonialism and the Radical Tradition

• Feminist Literary Theory

Assessment method

All essays are marked by two members of staff. The standard length for essays for modules on this course is 6,000 words; the Dissertation is 16,000 words. Marks are given out of 100.