Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (October/November 2022). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas The English master's programmes are designed to serve both as an autonomous degree for students wishing to pursue more advanced studies in English literature, and as a solid foundation for doctoral research. The MSt in English Literature (1830-1914) offers graduate students an opportunity to expand their knowledge and critical understanding of nineteenth-century literature and culture. The responses of writers to cultural change in this period, provoked—and continue to provoke—animated debate about language and literature, aesthetics and politics, and the objects and purposes of cultural criticism. English Faculty staff teaching on this course have a wide variety of interests, and encourage a wide range of critical perspectives. Areas of special strength include the history and practice of cultural criticism, literature and science, English and world literature, transatlantic cultural exchange, theatre and drama, life writing, material culture, comic and nonsense literature, aestheticism and decadence, poetry and poetics. Individual profiles are available on the English Faculty website. Course structure The MSt programme comprises four main components spread over three academic terms, through which you have the opportunity to pursue interests within your chosen MSt strand, as well as across period boundaries. In the first two terms, you will take a core course (A), a compulsory course in book history and theories of text (B), and choose two courses from a wide range of options (C). Under the guidance of a specialist supervisor you will also research and write a dissertation (D), which is submitted at the end of the third term. A. Core course: Literature, Contexts and Approaches The core course for this MSt is formally non-assessed but compulsory. It aims to further students’ knowledge of the literature in the period 1830-1914, and to deepen their sense of established and emerging critical debates in the field. The course ranges across genres and modes, engaging with theatrical works, poetry, and prose writing, and classes draw on both primary and secondary texts. Each class involves student presentations (on which feedback is provided). B. Core course: Bibliography, Theories of Text, History of the Book, Manuscript Studies This is a compulsory, assessed course, taught via a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms. It provides an introduction to bibliography, book history and textual scholarship as they apply to the study of literature. C. Special options The special option courses present an excellent opportunity for you to develop and pursue your research interests, whether related or unrelated to other work undertaken as part of the MSt degree. You are not constrained to follow option courses within the designated period, and indeed, option courses often traverse the boundaries of the broad periods. D. Dissertation You will write a dissertation on a subject of your choice but related to the work you have been doing over the year. In the first term of the MSt you will be assigned to a member of academic staff who will act as your supervisor. Students will have the opportunity to present their dissertation ideas at a one-day conference that they organise in conjunction with the faculty office, usually at the start of Trinity term. Each student on the course gives a 10-minute presentation on their work in progress, with the opportunity to receive feedback from their peers and the course convenors.