English Literature

Course summary

The course aims to expose students to a wide range of challenging texts. It is of course important that students read broadsheet newspapers and quality fiction at home as well – reading lists will be supplied. Whole texts studied on the course include The Great Gatsby, The Handmaid’s Tale, Atonement, Othello, The Feminine Gospels, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Bloody Chamber. You will also analyse a variety of shorter extracts from writers such as Zadie Smith and James Baldwin, and critical pieces by intellectuals such as Germaine Greer and Chinua Achebe; and study an anthology of poetry looking at the development of verse throughout history, from the fifteenth century to the modern day.