FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE M.St. & M.Phil. Course Details 2019-20 A-Course: Literature, Contexts and Approaches .................................................................................... 3 B-Course: Research Skills ........................................................................................................................ 3 C-Course: Special Options ....................................................................................................................... 3 Dissertation ......................................................................................................................................... 4 M.Phil. in English Studies (Medieval Period) ...................................................................................... 4 A-COURSES .............................................................................................................................................. 6 M.St. in English (650-1550) A-Course ................................................................................................. 6 M.St. in English (1550-1700) A-Course ............................................................................................... 8 M.St. in English (1700-1830) A-Course ............................................................................................. 10 M.St. in English (1830-1914) A-Course ............................................................................................. 11 M.St. in English (1900-Present) A-Course ......................................................................................... 15 M.St. in World Literatures in English A-Course ................................................................................. 18 M.St. in English & American Studies A-Course ................................................................................. 22 B-COURSES ............................................................................................................................................ 24 Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 24 M.St. in English (650-1550) and the M.Phil. in English ..................................................................... 24 (Medieval Period) B-Course .............................................................................................................. 24 M.St. in English (1550-1700) B-Course ............................................................................................. 25 Michaelmas Term 2019 - Material Texts .......................................................................................... 25 Hilary Term 2020 - Early Modern Textual Cultures: Writing, Circulating, ........................................ 28 M.St. in English (1700–1830) B-Course ............................................................................................. 30 M.St. in English (1830–1914) B-Course ............................................................................................. 33 Bibliography, Theories of Text, History of the Book, Manuscript Studies: ................................... 36 M.St. in English (1900-present day) B-Course .................................................................................. 38 M.St. in English and American Studies B-Course .............................................................................. 46 C-COURSES ............................................................................................................................................ 48 Old English poetry: Cynewulf and the ‘Cynewulf canon’ .................................................................. 48 After the Conquest: Reinventing fiction and history ........................................................................ 48 Chaucer before the Tales .................................................................................................................. 56 1 Milton and the Philosophers ............................................................................................................. 58 Travel, Belonging, Identity: 1550-1700 ............................................................................................. 62 Women and the Theatre 1660-1820 ................................................................................................ 65 Shakespeare, History, and Politics .................................................................................................... 67 The Romantic and Victorian Sonnet ................................................................................................. 77 Place and Nature Writing, 1750 - the present .................................................................................. 77 The Spectacular Enlightenment ........................................................................................................ 79 Literary London, 1820-1920 .............................................................................................................. 81 Victorian and Edwardian Drama 1850-1914 ..................................................................................... 83 Modern Irish-American Writing and the Transatlantic ..................................................................... 85 Virginia Woolf: Literary and Cultural Contexts ................................................................................. 87 American Fiction Now ....................................................................................................................... 88 Prison Writing and the Literary World .............................................................................................. 89 Hilary Term C-Courses ........................................................................................................................... 91 Old Norse .......................................................................................................................................... 91 Age of Alfred ..................................................................................................................................... 91 Devotional Texts and Material Culture c. 1200-1500 ....................................................................... 93 The Pearl Poet ................................................................................................................................... 94 The New Theatre History: Dramatists, Actors, Repertories, Documents ......................................... 95 Utopian Writing from More to Hume ............................................................................................... 99 Early Modern Biography ................................................................................................................... 99 Verse satire, 1720-1840 .................................................................................................................. 101 Senses of Humour: Wordsworth to Ashbery .................................................................................. 103 Women’s Poetry 1680-1830 ........................................................................................................... 107 The Lessons of the Master: Henry James and His Literary Legacies ............................................... 108 Literary Institutions, Normal and Peculiar ...................................................................................... 111 Bodies in Pain and Suffering Minds in C19th American Literature ................................................. 113 Life-writing ...................................................................................................................................... 116 Contemporary Poetry by the Book ................................................................................................. 117 20th and 21st century Theatre ....................................................................................................... 120 Literatures of Empire and Nation, 1880-1935 ................................................................................ 124 African Literature ............................................................................................................................ 126 Practical printing workshop for postgraduate students ................................................................. 127 Issues in Editing ............................................................................................................................... 128 Latin for beginners (Medievalists and Early Modernists): .............................................................. 129 2 A-Course: Literature, Contexts and Approaches For all strands other than 650-1550, this will consist of 8 weeks of 2-hour classes, taught in Michaelmas Term. The precise format of the A-course will vary across strands, but in general, the course is meant to stimulate open-ended but guided exploration of key primary and secondary texts, of critical and theoretical debates, and of literary historiography. The A-course therefore is not assessed formally. However, the pedagogic formation fostered by the A-course will be vital for the M.St. as a whole, and will inform, support and enrich the research you undertake for your B- and C-essays and the dissertation. For details of individual Acourses, please see below. You are strongly recommended to begin reading for the Acourse before you commence the