If you enjoy reading and analyzing literary texts, then this is the course for you. You will study a range of challenging and stimulating works from a variety of periods from 1610-2010. The course offers opportunities for comparisons between texts and genres and considers works of literature in their historical and cultural contexts. You will learn the skills of close textual analysis and literary criticism. You will be introduced to dystopian fiction. A dystopia is a nightmarish society; writers use this genre to comment on and criticize their society. You will study Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and (in Year 2) Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. You will also study Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire; the 19th-century poems of Rossetti and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. You will also study Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, a 19th-century play with an ending so controversial Ibsen had to rewrite it to have it performed in Germany. You will also have a large degree of independence in your choice of texts and tasks for coursework. This A Level is highly valued by universities. It provides an excellent grounding for studying English or other courses such as Modern Languages, Law, and Teaching/ Education.