English Literature

ENGLISH LITERATURE

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WHY STUDY ENGLISH LITERATURE?

English Literature at Oxford Brookes offers the opportunity to study an exciting range of modules, blending the study of classic texts and literary traditions with current theoretical models for understanding literature as a dynamic, global phenomenon.

After completing his A-Levels Barnabus Field took a year out to work in Mexico with endangered turtles and crocodiles and travel around Europe. He came to Brookes to study a combined honours degree in English Literature and English Language and Communication.

I chose Oxford Brookes because it was by far the most appealing university in terms of facilities and location. Oxford is a really impressive, picturesque city and it’s also easily accessible for me. My second reason for choosing Brookes was the fantastic facilities, especially the new JHB building which I now enjoy studying in.

I enjoy the freedom and relaxed atmosphere of the course. Our seminars are often conducted as constructive conversations about the texts being studied. The tutors always guide our seminars in an enjoyable way that helps us get the most out of our studies.

Life in Oxford is always interesting. There is never a shortage of activities going on, such as talks by guest speakers or poets visiting the campus to discuss their poetry with us. I find that being constantly surrounded by other students encourages me to learn more. Oxford is a great place to study!

For more student profiles visit www.english-languages.brookes.ac.uk

Contents 2 Why choose Oxford Brookes? 4 Teaching and learning 6 Research and expertise 8 Student profile 9 Careers 10 Course structure 12 Modules 17 Key facts 1

WHY CHOOSE OXFORD BROOKES?

English Literature at Oxford Brookes is renowned for its inspirational teaching and research excellence. In 2014, 97% of our students were satisfied with the course.

Distinctive features

Choice of single, combined honours or major/minor option

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Research-led teaching programme

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An inspirational and enthusiastic teaching team

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Dedicated support staff

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Home to the Man Booker Prize Archive and to The Poetry Centre

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Overseas placement scheme

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Work placement module

Established reputation Teaching takes place at our Headington site.

Our teaching is informed by the groundbreaking research in English Literature for which Oxford Brookes is renowned.

High and rising student satisfaction scores confirm what students experience here: a vibrant English community which fosters a stimulating and dynamic exchange of ideas.

Oxford is a city steeped in history and boasting a unique literary heritage. As well as offering theatres, cinemas and a host of other cultural venues, Oxford is just one hour from London and Stratford-upon-Avon, putting you in easy reach of the UK’s most important theatres.

Student choice

Resources

Whether you are studying English Literature as a single honours subject or combining it with another field, you will be able to choose from a wide variety of modules, including Drama and English Language modules, and literature courses covering periods from the Renaissance to the present. Throughout your study you will have the opportunity to pursue modules which draw directly on the current research interests of staff.

The University Library boasts an impressive range of materials including e-journals, e-books, databases, and internet sites. Our dedicated English Literature librarian will help you access relevant materials and guide you through the huge range of information available to you.

You will also have access to Oxford’s Bodleian Library if you choose to write a dissertation.

Support Throughout your time at Brookes you will receive outstanding support from our dedicated staff, both academically and personally. Our Student Support Coordinators are there to support you in all aspects of your academic career, from module choices to any personal issues you may experience. Your Academic Adviser will be allocated when you start and will provide academic and departmental support for you throughout your studies.

Core materials relating to learning and assessment are available online through our virtual learning portals. These include lecture schedules, module guides, supporting materials, guidelines and criteria for coursework along with notes on essay writing and report presentation.

Upgrade is a free service available to all students at any level, and is unique to Oxford Brookes. Upgrade staff offer advice on all aspects of study, from planning and writing essays to statistical analysis, either in a one to one or general drop-in session. www.brookes.ac.uk/services/upgrade

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

Teaching excellence Our knowledgeable, engaging and friendly tutors have carefully structured the English Literature degree to allow you to make an effective transition from school to universitylevel work.

We offer an excellent staff-student ratio, allowing for lots of individual interaction and personal tuition. We excel in innovative teaching within the subject area so you learn to approach literature and language in new and inspiring ways.

Alongside the more traditional structure of lectures, essays, seminars, and tutorials, we aim to use a range of assessment methods which may include: n n n n

group work workshops presentations electronic submissions

From drama to creative writing, you will also have plenty of opportunities to participate in one of the many lively student-led societies that flourish at Brookes. www.brookesuninon.org.uk

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Events

Study abroad

The department hosts a wide range of events throughout the academic year, attracting visiting experts from around the UK and further afield, ensuring that your learning is enhanced by the latest academic thinking and developments.

The English Literature programme has links with many universities across the world. If you wish to spend a semester experiencing another country and culture it is possible to arrange a Study Abroad programme as part of your academic experience. Our students have studied at our partner universities in Australia, the United States, Canada, and in Norway and Denmark (at universities where all teaching is in English).

The variety of events on offer, from lectures by eminent writers to workshops and performances, provide a unique contribution to your studies.

The department also hosts sessions at the annual Oxford Literary Festival, held in some of the city’s most beautiful buildings. The festival features speakers from all over the world, including internationally acclaimed novelists, academics and critics.

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English Literature at Oxford Brookes can be studied as a single, combined honours or major/minor subject. Popular combinations include History, Education Studies, Drama, and Politics.

www.brookes.ac.uk/exchange

Studying part time has really worked well for me. I have found the modular system an ideal way to learn about literature from different historical periods in all its forms.

Christina Stores, English Literature, 2019

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RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE

Academic expertise

Staff research

English Literature at Brookes is recognised for its excellent teaching and international research reputation, allowing you to benefit from the very latest academic thinking.

We have a vibrant research ethos within the department. Our teaching staff are active researchers and are widely published. Some of the many research areas in which our teaching staff specialise include:

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of our research is either world leading or internationally excellent Source: REF 2014

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Irish writing Twentieth-century drama Witchcraft in the nineteenth century John Clare and ecology Sir Walter Scott Ben Jonson Shakespeare Utopias Contemporary literature Victorian fiction

The Poetry Centre

Man Booker Prize Archive

The Centre hosts an annual programme of events, including research seminars, workshops and community projects. It was established in 1998 with four aims:

Oxford Brookes became the permanent home of the Booker Prize Archive in 2003. It is a unique collection which encompasses the administrative history of the Prize from 1968 to date, collecting together a diverse range of material, including correspondence, publicity material, copies of both the Longlists and the Shortlists, minutes of meetings, photographs and material relating to the awards dinners.

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to produce research into twentieth and twenty-first century poetry to promote poetry in the local community to encourage connections between poets, academics, and readers of poetry to create space for discussion of issues surrounding twentieth and twenty-first century poetry

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The Centre acts as a base for post-doctoral researchers and graduate students studying and writing in the area.

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You will be taught by staff who are expert in their field and whose publications contribute to the development of the subject in national and international arenas.

Will I get involved?

You will have the opportunity to take part in an annual Undergraduate Research Conference.

Here you can choose to create an exhibit or give a talk based on your research project.

Prizes are awarded for the best display and for the best oral presentation. By designing and undertaking your own research you will develop excellent analytical and independent study skills, adding weight to your CV.

The tutors here are really supportive and there is a real sense of community between students, and between the students and staff. Learning becomes a way of life and not just a structured routine.

Emma Bates Garcia, English Literature, 2017

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A CAREER IN ENGLISH

At Oxford Brookes we pride ourselves on the high calibre of our graduates. Students leave us with a first class set of skills, providing an excellent foundation for a wide range of successful careers.

I have always been passionate about literature so I knew English Literature was my calling.

It’s such a varied subject and there are many facets to it. Plus, an English Literature degree is highly esteemed and offers good career prospects.

Oxford Brookes undoubtedly provides its students with all the tools we need to succeed. The tutors are all experts in their fields and we also benefit from added tutorials from the Royal Literary Fund Fellows. Our lecturers are all so passionate about their subjects and infuse such enthusiasm into their teaching that I always leave a lesson excited!

Oxford Brookes has instilled in me a sense of confidence and ambition. The course has improved my concentration and analytical capabilities and it has given me a thirst for learning and self-improvement. I feel now as though I am able to identify and pick up new skills quickly and efficiently.

I have so many aspirations for the future. I’d like to be an author, editor or journalist and I’d also love to further my studies. I feel like the prospects are limitless and that’s really exciting.

I’m certain that whatever I do, I will draw on the skills and confidence that I have gained from my degree at Brookes.

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For more student profiles visit www.english-languages.brookes.ac.uk

Work placement

Our English Literature graduates are equipped with valuable transferable skills for the work place. You will leave the university with a wellregarded qualification which has led recent graduates to good careers in a variety of fields, including publishing, journalism, advertising and media, public relations, teaching, and commerce. Others have gone on to further study, for example to complete our Creative Writing MA, which features literary stars such as Philip Pullman as one of our Fellows who teach on the course.

You can use this module to earn valuable work experience while also gaining credit towards your degree. Staff and students arrange a placement within a suitable work environment for a semester. At the end of this experience you will complete a series of assessed tasks, based around the development of a CV, the delivery of an oral presentation, and a selfreflective review of the work and what you learnt about yourself.

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Amna Edris researched universities far and wide before deciding that Brookes was the right place for her to pursue her passion for English Literature.

Graduate skills

Oxford is a centre for leading industries and Brookes’ links in the region mean great opportunities for work placements across all areas.

Recent students on this module have worked in the media, publishing, the museum industry, marketing and PR, and at the Oxford Literary Festival. The department has excellent links with businesses and institutions across Oxfordshire, which is an excellent location for developing professional networks and contacts. The Oxford Brookes Careers Centre is also on hand to help guide your development.

The Guardian University Guide 2014

www.brookescareerscentre.co.uk

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COURSE STRUCTURE

Here is an outline of what to expect from an undergraduate English Literature degree at Oxford Brookes. You will receive a full course handbook in enrolment week. You will also receive more detailed information about choosing your second and third year modules during Semester 2 of your first year.

YEAR 1

YEAR 2

During the first year modules you will develop the core skills that you will need throughout the rest of your degree. You will also have the opportunity to take some modules outside your core subject of English Literature – and even learn a new language for free.

As a second year student you will be able to choose between the following compulsory core modules. These will broaden and deepen the knowledge and skills you gained in Year 1.

In order to complete stage 1, both single and combined honours students must pass the following basic modules. Combined honours students must also pass compulsory modules for your other field of study: n n

Culture, Criticism, Literature 1 & 2 Shakespeare

Single honours students must also pass: n

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Landscape and Environments: The Literature of Space American Literature and Culture Culture, Crime and Transgression The Novel and Modernity

You will have the choice to add to these a number of optional modules which allow you to begin to specialise in areas of literary study that most interest and stimulate you.

YEAR 3

In addition, you must choose either:

In your final year of study you will specialise even further by taking optional modules related specifically to the areas of English literary research in which your lecturers are engaged and in which they publish.

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The Specialist Options Modules offer intensive, small-group teaching in a specialised area of literary study. Building on the work you have done in Year 2, these modules will deepen your knowledge and sharpen your analytical skills.

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Contemporary Literature (Synoptic), or Dissertation Module

If there is a particular topic or approach that is not included in the English Literature degree course and which you would like to cover, it is possible to undertake independent study in the form of a dissertation or project. A dissertation is recommended if you are hoping to continue your studies at postgraduate level.

Specialist Options currently include: The Theatrical City Witchcraft and Magic n Literature, Technology, Culture n Literature and Madness n Creative Writing n The Gendered Self n Ecology and Romanticism n The Victorian Supernatural n African-American Avant-Gardes n American Modernism n Literary Pre-Raphaelitism n

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Critical Theory in Action

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Creative Writing For those interested in exploring their own creative potential, this module offers an introductory course in the development of key techniques. Whether your interest lies in prose, poetry or drama, this module will teach you the core skills you need to develop your craft.

MODULES

Approaches to Performance This module introduces you to a range of theatrical skills and forms. You will examine a range of key performance skills and techniques including a performer’s use of voice and movement. You will also be introduced to a range of theatrical forms and critical approaches to performance including naturalism, political theatre, melodrama and polyvocal performance.

YEAR 1 **Compulsory modules for both single and combined honours students. *Compulsory modules for single honours students only.

Culture, Criticism, Literature 1 & 2 ** These modules focus on developing higher-level reading skills. Working closely with a range of poetic and fictional forms, we explore how to understand texts in order to see how factors such as genre, context, language choice, and form build an overall literary effect. These modules also develop your confidence in speaking and writing about advanced literary concepts.

Shakespeare** This module examines Shakespeare not only as the cornerstone of the English literary tradition but also as an international cultural phenomenon whose influence has echoed across history and in every corner of cultural endeavour. By analysing a selection of his plays and poems, exploring the culture and the times that produced his work, and examining the impact his

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work has had on world literature, you will become a critic of the living presence of literary history in contemporary culture.

Critical Theory in Action* This module introduces you to the practice and history of literary criticism. It focuses on developing your ability to read critically and with a sensitive, informed awareness of how your own values, beliefs and background affect your interpretations of the world. You will be introduced to key theoretical concepts such as Feminism, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Postcolonialism and Environmentalism.

You will also have the opportunity to add modules from the following: World Literature This module explores writing in English and in translation. It presents global literature from a diverse range of national and regional cultures from across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Texts in Performance This module introduces you to key issues and debates in the reading and performing of dramatic texts. It discusses a range of works covering a broad spectrum of drama and focuses on three distinct theatrical movements drawn from the 1590s, 1890s and 1990s. It examines the theatrical practice and dramatic writing of each historical period in detail paying particular attention to such issues as the questions of textual genre, acting styles and performance spaces. The practical element of the module will develop your spatial awareness of staged moments and a sense of the historical specificity of performance.

YEAR 2 *Core modules of which single honours students must choose at least two and combined must choose at least one.

Landscape and Environments: The Literature of Space* This module explores how human beings have conceptualized, explored and exploited the spaces in which they live, and the spaces of the mind through which they understand themselves. Students will encounter a range of creative expressions of our environments from the Renaissance to the present day. You will examine why and how the ways in which we inhabit landscapes have changed through Romanticism’s veneration of nature, through Modernism’s celebration of the cityscape, to our current anxiety about the degradation of the environment.

American Literature and Culture* This module introduces a variety of American prose and poetic texts studied for both their formal characteristics and the relation to their social, historical and cultural contexts. The module focuses specifically on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries but will also familiarise students with a broad historical and textual range.

Topics include the construction of America and its myths, the American Renaissance, voices and spaces of America, and slavery and race.

Culture, Crime and Transgression* The structures of society – physical, moral, philosophical – determine how human beings behave but, as this module explores, we are fascinated by our dark, resistant capabilities. Exploring ideas of transgression from Milton’s Satan, through post-Darwininan degeneration, and the Golden Age Crime novel, this module asks students to consider what happens when we don’t follow society’s rules.

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The Novel and Modernity* Since its inception in the eighteenth century the novel form has been associated with the idea of modern individualism. But what does it mean to be modern? This module offers you the opportunity to explore the relationship between the novel and ideas of modernity by exploring the origins of the novel, considering its rise to pre-eminence throughout the nineteenth century and wondering about its future in the postmodern age of digital communication.

Alongside your compulsory modules you will have the opportunity to choose from a range of options that enable you to begin specialising in the areas of literary study that most interest you. These options change from year to year but include: Tragedy Tragedy has often been regarded as the highest literary form and this module allows you to explore its origins in Greek drama. You will look in detail at the great tragedies of the Renaissance and examine how these have been reconfigured in plays and poems written more recently.

Rennaissance Love Poetry This module offers the opportunity to explore some of the most powerful and moving poems ever written in English.

Writing candidly about the jealousy, self-pity, resentment, grief, despair and occasional joy which accompany the experience of desire, Renaissance writers were revealing, for the very first time, the most intimate aspects of emotional experience. You will read sonnets and lyric poems by writers including Sir Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser.

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Creative Writing This module offers an intermediate course in developing the writer’s art. Students who took the option in Year One may wish to continue their practice working with a published novelist.

Literature and Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis offered the twentieth century a scientific method for exploring the unconscious desires and motivations we all experience. On this module you will look at the ways in which literature and psychology have influenced each other, and debate the costs and benefits of trying to understand how the human mind works.

Witchcraft and Magic in Literature This module examines the way that the witch, magus and magician have been represented in literature from the Renaissance to the present day.

You will consider this literature from a range of perspectives including gender, class, social relations, court and local politics, education and superstition, the Enlightenment, and the development and endurance of popular culture.

follows Pre-Raphaelitism from its radical beginnings in 1848 through to the turn of the century when it was championed

by Aesthetes such as Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley.

Yeats, Joyce and Beckett On this module you will cover the full range of literary genres: poetry, drama, short stories, and novels. Reading across the works of three of Ireland’s, and Europe’s, most influential writers of the twentieth century, you’ll discuss topics such as: fairy tales and folklore; art and sexuality; city life; religion and politics; music and literature; and colonialism.

WWW: Wired Writing Worlds What does our devotion to technology tell us about how we understand life in the twenty-first century? Has digital culture changed the ways in which we relate to the world around us, to others, and to ourselves? This module prompts you to explore critically some of these issues and considers the future of writing in an age of mass media communication.

Satire Satire is the genre that exposes vice and folly by ridicule. Looking across a wide time period, this module examines the different strategies that have been taken to critique and implicitly reform society through satire.

Post-War American Fiction On this module, you will explore the writing of some of the greatest American voices of the last sixty years. Reading novelists such as Philip Roth, Don Delillo, Toni Morrison, and John Updike, you will explore themes such as: the post-war economic boom; the impact of the civil rights movement; the Cold war; and counter-cultural aesthetics.

The Pre-Raphaelites and the Victorian Literary Imagination This module explores the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, a group of poets, painters and designers who invoked the mythologies of the past in order to address, or perhaps to escape from, the uncomfortable realities of the Victorian present. Focusing on the interaction between images and texts, this modules

Possible Worlds: Science Fiction This module explores literary creations of other worlds - from augmented realities to post-apocalyptic environments, from urban dystopias to alien colonies, and from timetravelling adventures to parallel universes.

You will study the ways these fictions use the present developments and predicted futures of science and technology to reflect back, through socio-cultural, post-colonial,

feminist and political critique, through themes of existential angst, climate crisis, and technological totalitarianism, on what it is to be in our world and face our futures.

Victorian Poetry This course examines Victorian poetry’s fruitful inheritance from the Romantic period in terms of its interest in emotion and human psychology, and its experimentation with form and subject matter that was driven by the need to respond to an increasingly technologised and urbanized society.

Avant-Garde Poetries ‘Avant-Garde’ is a term that implies reconnaissance and when applied to art it has meanings beyond aggressive experimentation. This option encourages you to explore bleeding edge poetry by unlocking its social and formal origins, from the nineteenth century French symbolists, through twentieth century African American avant-gardes, to contemporary British experimentalists.

Independent Study in English Studies The module involves individual or group work on an appropriate topic or set of topics, conducted under supervision and with prior approval of the module leader.

Work Placement in English An opportunity for students to develop work-based skills and knowledge by engaging with professionals and organisations that have links to language, literature and the arts more widely.

Students will be able to evaluate and reflect critically upon this experience in a module that links theory and practice in a professional context.

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YEAR 3

Dissertation Module

All students choose one of the following:

You will work one-to-one with a specialist lecturer to devise, research, and write a 10,000-word project on a topic entirely of your own choosing. The dissertaton gives you a degree-ending capstone which tests all the skills of literary research, critical reading, time-management, planning and focused writing that you have learned over the course of your studies. You may use the dissertation as an opportunity to focus on a familiar area, or to address a subject not covered by the curriculum. Combined honours students have the option of writing a dissertation which embraces both their chosen subject areas.

Contemporary Literature (Synoptic Module) This module engages you with literature from the last ten years in order to explore how issues directly relevant to students’ lives, such as globalisation, post-9/11 culture, and digitalisation, are being debated in literary texts. The module also offers you an opportunity to relate this recent material back to other modules you have studied over your degree, to examine the resonances and echoes of recurrent cultural ideas across centuries.

Specialist Options Module The Specialist Options allow students to develop a deep knowledge of a specialist area by working with experts on researchled topics. Single honours students can choose up to three options; Combined can choose up to two. Options change yearly and include: n

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African-American Avant-Gardes The Theatrical City The Middlebrow Novel Literature, Technology, Culture Postcolonial Writing Literature and Madness Creative Writing The Gendered Self Ecology and Romanticism The Victorian Supernatural American Modernism Utopian/Dystopian Writing

KEY FACTS TEACHING LOCATION Headington Campus ACADEMIC FACULTY Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Postgraduate Study Options Once you have successfully completed your degree, you may wish to stay with us to continue on to more in-depth graduate study.

We currently offer taught courses for MA Creative Writing and MA English Literature.

We also welcome those who would like to join us to undertake further research such as an MA by Research, an MPhil, or a PhD.

HOW TO APPLY Full time study application is through UCAS. See our website for course codes.

For the combined honours degree the offer will lie between the offers quoted for each subject.

DURATION Full time: 3 years Part time: up to 6 years

Applicants over 21 years of age who do not meet these requirements are encouraged to contact Admissions to discuss their application.

We review our courses regularly and so the course content may vary. Please refer to our website for full details.

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TYPICAL OFFERS A level: BBB to include English Literature or English Language.

+44 (0)1865 484848

query@brookes.ac.uk

www.english-languages.brookes.ac.uk

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Oxford Brookes University Headington Campus Oxford OX3 0BP +44 (0) 1865 484848 query@brookes.ac.uk www.english-languages.brookes.ac.uk Follow us on

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To obtain a large-print copy of this publication or to enquire about other formats please contact +44 (0) 1865 484848 or email query@brookes.ac.uk

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