English Literature and History BA Honours

This module introduces a series of ‘keywords’ that have been historically central to the study of literature, and explores these in relation to specific critical approaches to, and theoretical understandings of, literary works.

No historical period can be seen in isolation from those which preceded it, but so many of the crucial factors in the making of the modern world emerged and developed in the extraordinary 150 years from the middle of the eighteenth century to the early twentieth. Ideas such as liberalism, democracy, republicanism, imperialism, socialism, and nationalism of course had their antecedents in earlier times, but it is in our period that they develop a seemingly unstoppable momentum, with profound consequences for societies all over the world and for the individual people who lived in them.  

This is a module where teaching and learning takes place in small groups, with students meeting their academic tutor on a regular basis. The content of the tutorials is tailored to the individual group, designed to develop study skills and basic research skills; to help students understand assessment criteria and apply feedback; to learn through formative assessment and peer review. The tutorials also link academic and personal competencies to employability.

This module provides you with an insight into the fabric of British history - from a social, cultural, political, and economic perspective - between 1760-1867. Through exploring a series of key moments, it traces the continuities and discontinuities of the period and strives to impart a textured understanding of modern British history that includes formerly marginalised voices. The module pays particular attention to the interplay between empire and metropole, and probes the ways that the British Empire influenced the everyday lives of Britons. The key moments under consideration include ideas of the empire; industrialisation; urbanisation; political reform radicalism; development of class politics; national identity; celebrity; the advent of mass-media and gender politics.

This module introduces some of the most exciting developments in poetry over the last 200 years. It examines how poetry intervenes in the modern world, exploring the role poetic form plays in the poet’s critique of key social and political issues. Spanning work from William Wordsworth to Frank O’Hara, Emily Dickinson to Nat Raha, the module considers issues such as the role of poetry and the poet, the politics of form, poetry’s engagement with political resistance, social reform, gender, the body, sexuality, class and cultural identity.

Since the French Revolution protests have been among the key drivers of the course of modern history. Using a wide variety of case studies in different settings this module addresses: when and why do protests occur; who protests and for what reasons; the different ways in which protests are expressed, from anarchy to terrorism; how far the nature of protests has changed over time; why some protests succeed and others do not.

This module provides an introduction to the global history of the twentieth century, an age of extremes, looking beyond the traditional Eurocentric or Western approaches to the past. The module begins with the catastrophe of the First World War and ends with the dissolution of the Soviet Empire. Alongside major political shifts, the sessions on the module consider important cultural and social developments. You'll study a range of global turning points such as the Russian Revolution, inter-war feminism, the global rise of fascism, the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, the Holocaust, the origins of the Cold War, Cold War in Asia, the 1968 revolutions, the Cambodian genocide, and Apartheid.

The Level 5 tutorials follow on from the Level 4 tutorials, providing you with weekly tutorials working in small groups with an Academic Tutor. The tutorials are divided between time spent developing practical academic skills and structured ‘employability’ sessions designed specifically to support and guide you in your preparation for employment. In terms of academic skills, the tutorials offer you the chance to reflect on your academic achievements so far and to build further on these achievements. They are designed to encourage you to actively engage in your own learning through student-centred activities.

The aim is to help you become a confident, self-reliant, independent learner and to develop your critical judgement and practical skills, thus enhancing your learning experience and improving your academic performance across all other modules, as well as preparing you for the Level 6 Dissertation module. The tutorials offer you regular access to informal academic advice that is tailored to your individual needs, as well as providing you with peer support throughout the academic year.  The ‘employability’ component of the module consists of a minimum of five sessions devoted to employability skills and full-day immersive sessions which will include workshops, presentations, panel discussions and interaction with industry and workplace professionals.

This module introduces you to the key debates and concepts that have been central to the formation of current understandings of memory, and its relationship to culture, history, and representation. Sample topics include slavery and its contemporary legacies; the Holocaust; and 9/11.

This module offers a critical investigation of the figure of the monster and the metaphors of monstrosity across a wide historical range of fictional, film, and non-fictional texts. The various ways in which textual and visual representations of monsters have been used in political, economic and social contexts will be considered, as will continuities and discontinuities in the conventions of these representations.

In the context of the society and economy of the East End of London, this module examines the series of murders of women that took place in 1888 - the 'Jack the Ripper' murders. You'll look at the circumstances of the lives of the victims; the police investigation; the role of the press; sex work and violence against women; popular culture in 1888 and the rise of detective fiction as well as cultural reinterpretations of the murders since 1888 in novels, film, theatre and 'Ripperology'.

This module is concerned with African-American thinkers, activists, and campaigns that protested the oppression of people of colour held in slavery and later denied equal rights. From runaway slaves and abolitionists to the renowned national leaders and unheralded local champions of the civil rights movement, you'll study the perceptions and actions of religious leaders, educators, feminists, communists, nationalists, and others. The module also develops the key historical skills of working with digital resources.

This module examines the literary, social and political concerns of Romanticism and its legacies across the period c.1790-1865. Centring on the idea of ‘revolution’, the module considers how a range of texts (poetry, the novel, non-fictional prose, and paintings) engage with issues as diverse as the natural world, political upheaval, liberty and the rise of the individual, ‘Englishness’ and the nation, gender and sexuality, the role of the artist, and the idea of modernity.

This module examines the literature, society and politics of the Victorian period, an age of considerable change and upheaval. Through close consideration of a range of texts – including poems, novels and visual material – you'll consider responses to pressing social and political issues such as industrialisation and the ‘Condition of England’, scientific developments, faith and doubt, psychology and the mind, gender, sexuality, imperialism and the empire, and decadence and the fin de siècle.

Four case studies in modern history, informed by staff research specialisms. Content may vary year-on-year.

This module offers you the opportunity to undertake an extended piece of independent research and writing on a topic of your choosing, undertaken with individual supervision. The dissertation’s research questions and approach are developed and refined in consultation with your supervisor and you'll receive feedback on a draft chapter. Over the course of the academic year, you'll produce the final dissertation.

Twelve case studies in modern history, informed by staff research specialisms. Content may vary year-on-year.

Internship and work experience module in a cultural institution that is concerned with history. This may be in an archive, museum, gallery, or media organisation subject to the approval of the module leader.

In this module, you'll explore the English novel after 1950 through the lens of temporality. You'll examine how the legacy of modernism and the events of the Second World War challenged ideas about the relationship between past, present, and future. The module will guide you through the conceptual debates these challenges provoked and show how they influenced the shape and form of the novel. You'll focus particularly on novels that have most clearly experimented with formal conventions in response to these temporal concerns.

The content of this module changes each year, allowing you to explore in depth a specific contemporary area or issue in literary studies, led by the research expertise of the teaching staff.

Fall of Berlin Wall; collapse of communism; the rise of China; genocide in Africa and/or the Balkans; terrorism; the rise of political Islam; Ukraine, Russia and the world; the Arab Spring and Middle East conflict; the impact of the AIDS epidemic and LGBTQ rights; globalisation and the rise of populism; sustainable development and the road to the SDGs; the impact of the Internet and AI.

In this module, you'll examine early 20th century modernism through the lens of intercultural encounters and their influence on formal innovation.

The first half of the module explores how major European modernists engaged with non-European cultures in their quest to create new forms for a new century. The second half of the module examines non-European modernism through the work of postcolonial and African American modernists.

Modernist remaking of form fundamentally rethinks the relation between all forms of representation and the world, and modernism will be examined in terms of its being both a reaction to and a constituent part of global modernity.

Through close analysis of selected key texts from the history of literary tragedy, you'll trace the development of tragedy as a genre. You'll explore its origins in the Ancient Greek polis through the works of Sophocles and Aeschylus, examine its revival in Renaissance England with Shakespeare, and consider its much-debated ‘crisis’ in modernity.

This is a work experience placement associated with employment with an appropriate employer that you as a graduate might eventually join, such as a small or large business, an arts organisation or a subject-based placement in a school.

Assessment consists of a portfolio which you'll complete. You'll need to source your own placement. Support is provided via three face-to-face teaching sessions: one introductory session, one session focused on the assessment, and one drop-in session to discuss work towards the assessment. You are also strongly encouraged to make full use of the support offered by discussing your placement and coursework with the module leader during the semester. In cases where you are unable to secure a placement by the end of the first week of the semester, or where a placement has fallen through, the University will support and facilitate a change in module.