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University of Oxford: World Literatures in English
| Institution | University of Oxford |
|---|---|
| Department | English Language and Literature |
| Web | http://www.ox.ac.uk/study |
| graduate.admissions@admin.ox.ac.uk | |
| Telephone | +44 (0)1865 270059 |
| Study type | Taught |
MSt
Summary
The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.
The course consists of four main components spread over three academic terms, through which you have the opportunity to pursue interests within your chosen MSt strand, as well as across period boundaries.
In the first two terms, you will take a core course (A) and a course in book history and theories of text (B), both tailored to your MSt. You will also choose two courses from a wide range of options (C).
Under the guidance of a specialist supervisor you will also research and write a dissertation, which is submitted in the final term.
You will also have the opportunity to hear lectures and papers by leading writers, critics, and theorists from inside and outside the University. You are encouraged to participate in the many research seminars and reading groups that run throughout term time, many of which are coordinated by graduate students themselves. There is an active and lively graduate organisation funded by the faculty, English Graduates at Oxford (EGO), that organises study skills, training and career development seminars, as well as social events and conferences.
A. Core course: The Colonial, the Postcolonial, the World – Literature, Contexts and Approaches This is the core course and is compulsory for all students. It is taught in weekly classes in the first term.
Classes on literature, contexts and approaches introduce representative key texts and current debates on the literature and cultural history of the period.
There is no formal assessment for the A Course, but written work and/or oral presentations may be required.
B. Core course: Bibliography, Theories of Text, History of the Book, Manuscript Studies This is a compulsory, assessed course, taught via a range of lectures and seminars in the first two terms.
It introduces students to the methodology and theory of bibliography, manuscript studies, textual scholarship and book history.
C. Special options Students take two special option courses, one in the first term and one in the second term. Options change from year to year, depending on the availability of faculty members and on their current teaching and research interests.
The courses are taught in weekly, small group seminars.
You are not constrained to follow option courses in the designated period and, indeed, option courses often traverse the boundaries of the broad periods and subject groups.
Recent C course options for this strand have included ‘Humanitarian Fictions’, ‘Literatures of Empire and Nation 1880-1935’, ‘Energising World Literatures’ and ‘Literature and the Global Contemporary’.
D. Dissertation You will write a dissertation on a subject of your choice, but related to the work you have been doing over the year. You will be assigned to a member of academic staff who will act as your supervisor.
Students will have the opportunity to present their dissertation ideas at a one-day conference that they organise, usually at the start of Trinity term.
| Level | RQF Level 7 |
|---|---|
| Entry requirements | For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas |
| Location | University of Oxford University Offices Wellington Square Oxford OX1 2JD |
Summary
The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2023). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.
In line with the other MSt strands in the English Faculty, the MSt is made up of four elements:
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the ‘A’ course, intended as an introduction to key themes and debates in postcolonial and world literatures;
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a ‘B’ course on book history, including postcolonial and world literature approaches to book history;
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two ‘C’ or option courses, one in Michaelmas term and one in Hilary term; and
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a ‘D’ element, the dissertation, which is handed in at the end of the final term, Trinity (June).
The descriptions below supply more detail on the A, B and C courses.
A. Core course: The Colonial, the Postcolonial, the World – Literature, Contexts and Approaches The ‘A’ course, which runs in Michaelmas term, comprises eight seminars and is intended to provide a range of perspectives on some of the core debates, themes and issues shaping the study of world and postcolonial literatures in English. Each seminar will be led by a member of the Faculty of English or other relevant faculty and will include one or more short presentations from students on the week’s topic. There is no assessed A course work, but students are asked to give at least one presentation on the course, and to attend all the seminars. The methodologies you will encounter on this course are intended to prepare you for situating your dissertation in a chosen field of research. You should read as much as possible of the bibliography over the summer – certainly the primary literary texts listed in the seminar reading for each week.
B. Core course: Bibliography, theories of text, history of the book, manuscript studies This is a compulsory, assessed course, taught via a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms. The B-course for the MSt in World Literature strand introduces students to the methodologies and theories of bibliography, manuscript studies, textual scholarship, and book history framed within the broad concerns and methodologies of world literature book history and the emergence and institutionalisation of the categories of world and postcolonial literature within global and local literary spaces and the publishing industry.
The course begins in Michaelmas with a general introduction to theories and methodologies of material textual scholarship alongside an introduction to manuscript study and archive use in world literature. In late Michaelmas and Hilary it moves on to specific discussion of the institutions of world literature, culminating in student presentations and feedback on the B course essay project in Hilary term.
C. Special options Students are able to choose from ‘C’ course options concerned specifically with World Literatures, as well as from any other ‘C’ course options on offer in the English MSt. Options taken by MSt students in this strand have, in recent years, included:
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‘Humanitarian Fictions’, looking at the revived idea of Humanitarianism in English, Anglophone, and World literary studies and raising specific questions about how the novel in particular embraces the discourse of human rights and humanitarianism to address global modernity’s emergences and discontents;
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‘Literatures of Empire and Nation’, investigating the literary and cultural perceptions, misapprehensions, and evasions that accompanied empire, and the literary forms that negotiated it.
D. Dissertation You will write a dissertation on a subject of your choice, but related to the work you have been doing over the year. You will be assigned to a member of academic staff who will act as your supervisor.
| Level | RQF Level 7 |
|---|---|
| Entry requirements | For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas |
| Location | University of Oxford University Offices Wellington Square Oxford OX1 2JD |
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