Keele University Prospectus Undergraduate | 2016 | Page 90

HUMANITIES

English
Overview

English is available as a single honours course
and as part of a dual honours course, where it can
be combined with a very wide variety of other
programmes in humanities, sciences and social
sciences. It provides a grounding in the key periods
and genres of English literature and a thorough
training in critical methods. It allows you to
experience the full breadth of the subject while also
concentrating on areas that appeal to you. We teach
literature from the medieval period to the present
day, alongside film studies and creative writing. As
well as studying British authors, you can take options
in American, Canadian and postcolonial literatures.
Our staff are active researchers in a wide range of
topics in literature, film and cultural theory; they are
published novelists, poets and short story writers.
There are regular programmes of visiting academic
speakers, novelists and poets, open to all students.
Recent visitors have included Gwendoline Riley,
Paul Muldoon, Jackie kay, Roger McGough, and
Carol Ann Duffy.

Course content
The core modules in the first year are aimed
at developing analytical and critical skills,
and broadening your experience of literature
and modern approaches to thinking and writing
about it. Alongside this, you may choose further
elective modules in English or American literature,
creative writing or film.
First year
Core modules:
Reading Literature introduces various aspects of
literary study, enabling you to get to grips with a
range of primary texts, but also to develop a variety
of critical skills.
Becoming a Critic extends the work you did on
Reading Literature in semester one, developing a
knowledge of different literary modes and historical
contexts, as well as an understanding of critical
methods and skills.

Playing Parts aims to introduce you to the critical
study and evaluation of drama and poetry through
close attention to issues of performance, voice and
style. It focuses on the development of different
styles of poetry and drama between the 17th century
and the present day.
Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in 19th Century English
and American Literatures explores the development
of one genre in two different national traditions and
introduces you to theoretical concepts.
Fiction Through Practice is designed to build a
bridge between the composition and the criticism
of prose fiction. It introduces different literary
modes and encourages you to develop these in
your own writing.
Approaches to Film examines the development of
critical thinking on the cinema and invites you to
debate, question and apply ideas on film authorship,
genre, and history.
Second year
You will take two core modules (one each semester),
and will also have the choice of taking elective
modules. Current core and elective modules in
literature and creative writing include:
• The Age of Shakespeare and Donne
• Romanticisms
• Victorian Performances
• Post-War British Fiction and Poetry
• Aspects of the Novel
• Creative Writing
• The Detective and the American City
• French Cinema
• From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American
Literature and Social Criticism in the 20th Century
• Lyrics and the Popular Song

Optional modules include:

• Medieval Literature

Telling Tales provides an introduction to narrative
fiction (short stories, novels and film) using examples
from the 18th to the 21st century.

• The Romance of Fiction: History and Society
in 19th Century American Literature

Starting Out: An Introduction to American Literature
surveys a wide variety of topics and periods in
American cultural history, and equips you with a
range of literary and analytical skills.
Poetry Through Practice looks at the major poetic
modes (for example the love lyric and the elegy),
explores how different poets employed these
modes and encourages you to employ them in
your own writing.

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Reading Film introduces you to the essential
elements of film narrative and engages you in
thinking critically about the creative and technical
choices made by filmmakers.

• Satire
• Teenage Dreams: Youth Subcultures in Fiction,
Film and Theory
• 20th Century Novels into Film
• Revolution and Restoration: Literature of the
English Civil War