Masters Degrees (Fantasy Literature)

Are you a fan of fantasy fiction? Or are you simply curious as to why the fantastic can be found all around us in the twenty-first century, from videogames and films to poetry, songs, television, novel series, and so-called 'mainstream' fiction? This programme allows you to engage with one of the most vibrant literary genres of the last two centuries - and a major cultural phenomenon of our time.

Why this programme

• You will be supported by a friendly, internationally acclaimed team of scholars working in all areas of the arts, from literature and comics to film, TV, history of art and modern languages.
• An eclectic range of fantasy-related events is organised each year, from conferences to field trips, from talks and conversations involving writers, editors and visiting scholars to reading parties, film showings and exhibitions.
• You will have access to world class libraries, museums and teaching/research facilities. And there will be the opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant cultural scene of Glasgow itself, which attracts major fantasy-related conventions and is famous throughout the world for its musical, artistic, technological and literary energy.

Programme structure

The programme involves core and optional taught sessions, followed by a period of research and writing over the summer when you will undertake supervised independent work on a special topic of your choice, researching, planning and writing a 15,000 word dissertation.

Full-time students

Semester 1 - September to December

• Research Training Course
• Fantasy 1: 1780-1950
• Option 1

Semester 2 - January to March

• Fantasy 2: 1950 to the present
• Option 2
• Option 3

 Summer - April to September

• Fantasy Dissertation

Part-time students

First year

• Research Training Course
• Both compulsory Fantasy courses
• Option 1

Second year

• Option 2
• Option 3
• Fantasy Dissertation

Delivery

All taught courses are 20 credits and are delivered in weekly 2-hour seminars or equivalent.

Seminars are taught to the extent that the student members meet regularly with a tutor and proceed through a planned sequence of reading and discussion. The working style, however, is exploratory rather than didactic; students are expected to engage fully with primary sources, to develop, express and take responsibility for their own opinions and to work towards independent argument and expression in their resulting coursework and dissertation.

Content

The two compulsory Fantasy courses complement each other.

Fantasy 1: c. 1780-1950

The first introduces you to the history of fantasy literature in English and its attendant theories from c. 1780 to 1950. As well as charting the early history of modern fantasy, including major children’s fantasies where these had a significant impact on the development of adult fantasy literature, the course will introduce you to the most influential critical and theoretical approaches to fantasy and the fantastic.

Fantasy 2: 1950 to the present

The second investigates the history of fantasy literature in English from 1950 to the present. It will also touch on the unprecedented spread of fantasy in recent decades through comics, films and the new media, and delve into the critical and theoretical approaches to fantasy and the fantastic that have emerged since the 1950s.

Optional courses

You may choose from the available optional courses offered by any of the Masters programmes in the School of Critical Studies; see in particular the courses listed under the MLitt English Literature general pathway. You may also opt for courses from other Masters programmes in the College of Arts (subject to approval by the relevant convener). One course can be taken at Honours level. Examples of possible options include: 

• African Modernities
• The American Counterculture, 1945-75
• American Fiction of the 1930s
• Bleeding Edge: Contemporary narratives of illness and medicine
• Children's Literature And Literacies: Critical Enquiry
• Creative Writing Fiction Workshop (cross-discipline)
• Decadence and the Modern
• Early Modern Mythmaking
• F Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton and Dialogues of American Literary Modernism
• Fantasy Across Media
• Finn in Gaelic Literature
• From Medieval to Early Modern 1
• From Medieval to Early Modern 2
• Humour, Opposition and Literature
• The Mind of the Contemporary American Novel
• Romantic Worlds: Encountering Environments
• Science Fiction
• Victorian Literature 1: Writing the Times
• Victorian Literature 2: Readers, Writers, Publishers

 For further information please contact the convener.

Career prospects

The critical and analytic skills you develop and the ability to conduct rigorous independent study make this programme an ideal step towards an academic career.

Graduates from English Literature have also gone on to careers in writing, editing, publishing, teaching and the media.

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Course content

Our MA English Literature is an open and flexible programme designed to give you the possibility of exploring the full diversity of English literature.

We want you to join in the debates over the nature of literature, the future of English literature, and the past and new cultural experiences of writing and communication which are shaping our lives, with our team of active researchers and committed teachers.

We see research as a public activity, and the course offers ways in which to explore the research process as engagement in the cultural conversation.

Our modules offer the opportunity to research a diverse range of literary periods and forms – from the Early Modern to Contemporary fiction, engaging with genres including historical fiction, fantasy literature, modernism, e-writing, and film.

The MA also explores a wide range of critical and theoretical approaches, including historical and textual analysis, ethical reading, cognitive poetics, and critical theory.

Our facilities

The Department of English and Creative Writing is a thriving and successful Department, with a staff of active researchers and committed teachers.

The Department hosts the Centre for Research in Folklore, Fairytales and Fantasy, the South Coast Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Research Group, which hold regular research events, alongside a full Departmental programme, including film showings, visiting speakers, and theatre talks.

Recent visiting speakers include Dame Gillian Beer, Professor Jacqueline Simpson, Dr Frances White, and Professor Jacqueline Labbe.

In collaboration with our colleagues in Creative Writing, we also have regular events with writers and poets Simon Brett, Matthew Sweeney, Mavis Cheek, Helen Dunmore, Michele Roberts, and Jo Shapcott.

The Department has close contact with local cultural institutions: the Chichester Festival Theatre, Pallant House Gallery, the Chichester Public Records Office, and other local institutions.

These offer you further research opportunities. Chichester and the local area has a strong literary history, attracting writers from the eighteenth-century radicals William Blake and Charlotte Smith, to H. G. Wells and Mervyn Peake.

Learning Resource Centre

The Learning Resource is the hub of the learning environment. It has two upper floors of library resources, one for silent study and one for quiet study, both of which have recently been refurbished.

On the ground floor, you’ll find the Support and Information Zone, Media Centre, Otter Gallery, Costa Coffee and a variety of IT resources.

The Bishop Otter LRC also offers:

• 130 open access PC workstations
• 45 Apple iMacs
• Ample printing facilities
• Netbooks available on loan
• Professional editing suites
• Media loans counter
• Wi-Fi and plug points throughout

Where this can take you

Our MA is designed to transform you into an active and confident researcher in the broad field of English Literature.

The course is a gateway to PhD research, providing an opportunity to focus your research, develop your independence in a supportive environment, and refine your research skills.

The MA is also for anyone who wants to develop their skills, subject knowledge, and confidence in research and the presentation of research.

It is particularly relevant for careers in research-related fields, from librarianship to arts management, for teachers in English Literature and related subjects, and for careers requiring high-level abilities in writing, presentation, and critical analysis.

Indicative modules

Literature in the Present Moment

What is literature and how do we think literature today? The concept of ‘literature’ is crucial and elusive, expanding under the impact of digitalisation and new forms of creative and critical writing. In this course students will explore new techniques in archival research, issues in intellectual history, theoretical developments, and the transformations of the very concept of ‘literature’, past and present.

Theatres of Pain and Pleasure, 1400-1700

Focusing on the Renaissance stage this course explores the theatre as a site of bodies engaged with forms of pain and pleasure: crime, sexuality, war and religion. Ranging across Shakespeare, Jacobean Tragedy, and Restoration Comedy, you will explore the space of the city and a rich diversity of sites, local and national, of theatrical representation.

Visions of the Real: Literature, Myth, and Science, 1800-Present

Fiction has always has a tense relationship with reality. Is fiction more real than reality, as literary characters come to ‘life’, or is fiction a betrayal of reality? In this course you will engage with the blurred lines between literature, science and myth. From the moment of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, in tension between the ‘clear’ vision of reality and the power of myth, the course traces out the crisis of realism, from fantasy literature to modernism to the avant-garde.

Activating Research

How do you become a researcher? Exploring the research process as one that involves integrating a range of ‘voices’, from primary texts, archives, peers, critical and theoretical work, and audience, this course gives you the capacity to engage with this diversity. While research is often presented as an intensely private and personal activity, this course will help you develop your research project as a public process, giving you the tools to find your own critical voice and the confidence to engage with peers, the academic community, and the public.

Teaching and assessment

You will be assessed over four modules, three with an assessment of an essay of 5,000 words.

The module on ‘activating research’ will be assessed by a presentation (25%) and a written submission (3000 words).

The Dissertation will be a 15,000 assessment.

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This programme gives you the chance to pursue your own interests in English Literature at postgraduate level across a rich variety of courses led by internationally renowned experts. A core research training course will introduce you to key skills in postgraduate study, while a flexible degree structure allows you to select from the full range of optional courses on offer from the School of Critical Studies. You can also choose courses from elsewhere in the College of Arts or from other Schools and Colleges across the University. The programme ends with an opportunity to write a dissertation on an English Literature-related topic of your choice.

Why this programme

• The structure of the degree allows you to follow either a bespoke English Literature MLitt programme, constructing your own pathway through a range of different courses, or one of several specialist pathways to suit your interests (see below).
• You will have access to world class libraries and museums, as well as the extraordinary diversity of cultural, literary and artistic events that makes Glasgow such a vibrant place for postgraduate study.
• The core research skills programme includes tailored workshops with the University’s archives and world-class Special Collections, as well as providing the academic and technical skills you will need to succeed at postgraduate level in the university and other professional environments.

Programme Structure

The programme is mostly comprised of optional courses, enabling you to tailor your own Masters programme to your area of interest. All students will study our 20-credit core English Literature Research Training Course. You then take five more 20 credit courses and one 60 credit dissertation. The structure for full-time students is as follows:

Semester 1:

• Core Course: English Literature Research Training
• Two optional courses

Semester 2:

• Three optional courses

Summer:

• Dissertation

The two semesters of coursework are followed by one term of supervised work towards a dissertation of up to 15,000 words which you will submit at the beginning of September. The topic normally arises out of the work of the previous two semesters, but the choice is very much open to the student’s own initiative. Your supervisor helps you to develop the proposal and plan the most appropriate reading and methodology.

It is also possible to write a dissertation made up of creative writing with a critical component. Normally this possibility is only available to students who have taken the Creative Writing Fiction Workshop (cross-discipline) as one of their options.

Part-time students

Part-time students take the English Literature Research Training Course and three 20 credit courses in their first year of study, and two 20 credit courses and the dissertation in their second year.

Pathways

If you have already identified your area of interest, there are five different pathways through the MLitt in English Literature at Glasgow:

• English Literature (MLitt)
• English Literature: Fantasy (MLitt)
• English Literature: Medieval and Early Modern Literature and Culture (MLitt)
• English Literature: Modernities: Literature, Culture, Theory (MLitt)
• English Literature: Victorian Literature (MLitt)

Each pathway will give you a different mix of core and optional courses.

Find out more about core and optional courses.

Career prospects

Our MLitt programmes provide excellent preparation for PhD studies and an academic career. They also develop key skills sought by many employers, including: the ability to find, select and manage large quantities of information; confident and persuasive oral and written communication; and problem solving through creative and critical thinking.

Past Glasgow MLitt graduates have gone on to pursue successful careers in writing, editing, publishing, teaching, the media, heritage and creative industries, and numerous other related professions.

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The Romantic Worlds Masters focuses on the art and culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: a period of radical change and rancorous turmoil during which writers and artists forged works and ideals that continue to exert profound influences over the ways in which we think about our environments, selves and societies. While the pathway provides ample opportunities to engage with the works of canonical Romantic poets and with the great novels written during the period, its approach is interdisciplinary. As well as providing groundings in advanced literary studies and in the traditional cornerstones of British Romanticism, the programme’s courses range across fields including art history, ecocriticism, sociology and urban studies, studying caricature, travel writing, drama, topography, periodicals, portraiture and music alongside novels and poetry. The pathway includes numerous opportunities to work with collections in and around Glasgow.

Why This Programme

• Based in a longstanding centre of research excellence for Romantic Studies, the Romantic Worlds MLitt provides the chance to work closely with leading experts in the field, specialising in a wide range of different aspects, forms and techniques.
• You'll have bespoke opportunities to work with Romantic-period books, original manuscripts, visual art and collection objects held by the University Library and Archives and the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery.
• The flexible programme allows you to study the Romantic period in combination with other literary periods or with complementary courses in other subject areas. Students might take courses in Victorian Studies to provide a thorough training in the long nineteenth century; study Romantic-period legacies by taking courses on the American Counterculture or Fantasy literature; or take options in Art History or Music to expand upon elements in the core provision, tailoring their course of study to fit their particular interests and requirements.
• Glasgow has a thriving research culture, allowing you to expand your interests by providing access to a plethora of seminars, workshops and events in addition to the core provision of the programme.

Programme Structure

You'll take:

• three core courses
• three optional courses 

You will also complete a 15,000-word research dissertation. 

Semester One: September to December

• Romantic Worlds 1: Encountering Environments
• School of Critical Studies Research Training Course
• One optional course

Semester Two: January to March

• Romantic Worlds 2: Selves and Societies
• Two optional courses

Summer: April to September

Dissertation

Part-time Students

Part-time students take all three core courses plus one second-semester optional course in their first year of study, and two optional courses and the dissertation in their second year.

Teaching and assessment

Courses are generally taught through seminars and workshops. Both Romantic Worlds courses incorporate a significant amount of work with collections. Courses are usually assessed through a combination of presentations, mid-term assignments and final essays.

Career Prospects

The collections-related elements of the Romantic Worlds Masters provide experiences of working with heritage materials that are directly applicable to careers in museums, galleries and libraries.

The programme also helps students to develop important transferable skills, including:

• articulating arguments
• locating and organising information
• responsibly managing time
• clearly and effectively communicating

The Romantic Worlds Masters also provides an excellent grounding for doctoral-level study.

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English Literature at Cardiff is taught by staff with an international reputation for innovative and influential research. Our passion for the subject and the strength and range of our scholarship enable us to offer a degree which is:

• Inclusive. We teach across the whole chronological span of English Literature, from Middle English to literature of the twenty-first century. We offer modules in a range of critical approaches, from bibliography and textual studies to contemporary women’s writing, and from Barthesian semiotics and postcolonial ways of reading, to theories of gender and queer studies. We are intrigued by the connections between literature and popular culture and literature and theory, and our teaching reflects these interests.

• Challenging. Staff offer modules on their research areas of expertise. This means that students engage with new, up-to-date ideas that are helping to shape and define the future of the discipline.

• Diverse. There are no compulsory modules. You have the freedom to use any critical, theoretical perspective to analyse any type of (aesthetic, cultural, historical) material.

• Engaged. The MA in English Literature is a successful programme of study that has a strong reputation for offering a comprehensive range of modules from all periods and genres that bring the latest developments in literary and critical theory to bear upon the reading of literary and cultural texts.

Distinctive features

• A wide-ranging programme of research-led modules taught by specialists in the field
• A series of dedicated research pathways, including Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Romantic and Victorian Studies; Modern and Contemporary Literature; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Cultural and Critical Theory
• Access to skills training and various research activities
• The freedom to assemble a programme of study tailored to personal and professional interests
• High-level training in the latest research methods, critical theory and scholarly writing and presentation skills in a non-assessed core module
• Popular two-day residential conference and workshop at Gregynog Hall, where you will present short 15-minute papers in a supportive and lively atmosphere
• One-day symposium dedicated to increasing your employability skills
• Opportunities to take part in a series of dynamic research seminar series
• Access to specialist library collections

Structure

Our flexible structure allows you to assemble programmes of study tailored to your personal and professional interests. You can opt for the open pathway, or choose one of our specialist pathways: Medieval and Renaissance; Romantic and Victorian Studies; Modern and Contemporary Literature; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Cultural and Critical Theory, which groups together groups of taught modules with related research activities and skills training available in the School.

The degree is structured in two parts.

• Part one

You choose four modules from a range of specialist options. You take two modules per semester (one module per semester for part-time study)

All teaching is by seminars and workshops structured around student participation, featuring opportunities to present your work. Each module consists of a two-hour seminar per week and is assessed by a 4,000-word essay (or equivalent).

In addition to the taught modules, you attend weekly workshops on research methods and scholarly presentation.

• Part Two

You undertake a dissertation of 16,000-20,000 words on a subject of your choice, developed in consultation with a supervisor in the field. You begin to plan and research your dissertation in the second semester for submission in September.

Core module:

English Literature Ma Dissertation

Optional modules:

The Myth of King Arthur in The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Violent Death in Renaissance Drama
Reading/Theory
Constructing Shakespeare
Neo-Victorian Metatextualities
Writing and Experimentation
Heroes and Villains from Chaucer to Shakespeare
Spectral Femininities
Writing Victorian Science
Children's Fantasy Fiction Since 1900
Before Homosexuality? Representing Same Sex Desire from Smollett to Sexology
Romantic Poetry and Place
Project Management and Advanced Research Skills
Narrative and Nation: Romantic Prose 1980-1830
White
Virginia Woolf's Modernism
Ecotheories
Digital Theory

Teaching

Teaching is delivered in seminar groups for all modules. The teaching for each module is text-based and revolves around the exploration of concepts and ideas from a range of literary, historical, and theoretical perspectives within the broad field of English Literature.

The learning activities vary from module to module as appropriate, but will include such as activities as interactive discussions of prepared texts/topics and, in some cases, student-led presentations.

Encouraged to explore our excellent library resources, you are expected to undertake preparation including wide-ranging reading to enable full participation.

Assessment

Each module on Part One is assessed by a 4,000-word essay or equivalent (which can include up to 10% of the module being assessed by oral presentation).

Part Two is examined by a 16,000-20,000-word dissertation.

Career prospects

Postgraduate study is a gateway to many careers within and beyond academia.

Many of our alumni enter (or return to) various professions including academia, primary and secondary education, journalism, publishing, archival and library work, the Civil Service, arts administration and the creative industries.

In addition to taught modules and academic workshops, we also offer dedicated sessions to increase your transferable skills and employability prospects. We also encourage all students on the programme to work closely with the University’s Careers and Employability office.

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The Masters in Comparative Literature offers interdisciplinary study across linguistic cultures as well as academic fields. Benefitting from a strong and diverse School of Modern Languages and Cultures, you will be able to take courses in the comparative study of literatures, film, visual arts, or societies of two or more language areas OR across two or more disciplines. The high degree of flexibility means that you are able to design a unique programme of study suited to your interests.

Why this programme

• This Programme is suitable for students with a strong background in literary and cultural theory and interpretation. Here you can study literature, film or other cultural artefacts from a variety of perspectives, with a strong focus on the critical apparatus of the last two centuries.
• You will be taught by world-leading researchers in these fields.
• The School provides a wide range of languages, with a total of nine European languages as well as Mandarin. Other ancient and modern languages are available elsewhere in the College or Arts.
• The programme is suitable whether or not you already have knowledge of one or more foreign languages; you may follow it entirely in English translation, or make use of your linguistic skills in our areas of expertise. If you wish to take up a new language, this can be part of your programme of study.
• The School hosts a vibrant postgraduate community, with student-led research seminars and social activities.
• This Masters actively encourages you to take courses from across the College, creating a programme which is intensely interdisciplinary, and can be bespoke to your individual interests.
• Our MLitt is complemented within the SMLC by the MSc in Translation Studies as well as by MLitts across the College of Arts, for example, the MLitt in Modernism and the MLitt in Fantasy.

Programme structure

The Programme is comprised of two core courses, a selection of optional courses, and an independent research project (dissertation), which provides an opportunity for you to identify an area of interest for an in-depth critical exploration.

The range of options on offer enables you to create your own Masters programme. It also allows you to work in an interdisciplinary capacity, selecting courses from across the College of Arts, according to personal interests. The Programme Convenor will work with you to construct a portfolio of courses according to your personal aims and objectives.

Teaching is almost entirely in small-group seminars, with student assessment based on presentations, essays and individual research diaries; any language classes you may take will have assessment as appropriate to that mode of learning. The Core 1 and Core 2 courses focus strongly on helping you develop your skills as a researcher and writer.

Core courses

Semester one

Core 1: Introduction to Comparative Literature [Comp Lit 5030]  (20 credits)

• The aim of this course is to provide a solid theoretical background in the discipline of Comparative Literature, harking back to the origins of literary study and aesthetics in Classical times and focusing largely on the developments of the 20th and 21st centuries.
• Key terms and concepts to be introduced and discussed typically include: World Literature, Global Literature, Reception Studies, Intermedial Studies, Translation Studies, Cultural Studies, Intercultural Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Literary Theory and Literary History.
• The Course will provide a largely theoretical background which is meant to complement the more hand-on research skills Course (Comparative Literature in Practice) to follow in semester 2. 

Semester two

Core 2: Comparative Literature in Practice (Comp Lit 5031] (20 credits)

The aim of this course is to provide:

• A solid background in the real-life intercultural and interdisciplinary encounters, including Literary (Cultural) Reception History, and Intermedial, Interdisciplinary and (of course) Intercultural analysis, based on the work of staff and research students in the SMLC as well as students’ own forays into the current scholarship.
• A forum for developing, in discussion with staff and other students, viable research questions, and setting about the research decided upon.
• Skills training specific to student’s own emerging project in finding resources, keeping an annotated bibliography, writing a research plan and funding application, giving a public spoken presentation as well as defending a poster.

Selection of options is subject to approval by Programme Convener. A sample list follows below, but not all these options will be available in a given year.

Courses that may be on offer within the School include:

• Transnational Constructions of Gender
• Narratives of Illness
• Reading the New Europe
• Text Cultures
• Visual Cultures
• Translation Studies in Theory and Practice
• Marketing and Translation across Media
• Literary Translation

Career prospects

Employers welcome our graduates’ abilities to 'think outside the box' in relation to cultures other than their own, as well as their ability to communicate in oral and written form in a logical, coherent, articulate and creative way.

Our graduates go into the workplace well-prepared to work in a global, international environment, as well as in any field requiring sophisticated communication skills. Some common careers include: publishing, editing, creative industries, and teaching.

The programme also provides an excellent preparation for further study in the fields of Comparative Literature and Modern Languages and Cultures.

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Combine the literary theory of science fiction and fantasy with the study of their language and rhetoric, their various forms and subgenres and their place in the publishing industry on the first interdisciplinary Masters course of its kind in the UK.

Course duration and delivery: This course starts in May and runs until the following May (1 year full-time, 2 years part-time). It is delivered by blended learning, meaning much of your study time will be spent online and in preparatory reading, with two intensive weeks of on-campus attendance for full-time students and one intensive week per year for part-time students.

NB The residential dates for 2018 entry are 3–14 September 2018.

• Become an expert in one of the fastest growing areas of popular culture.
• Explore a variety of fields including literature, film and television, linguistics and creative writing.
• Study without disrupting your work / family life with our blended learning delivery.

The study of science fiction and fantasy is over 75 years old and for much of that time has been the domain of English literature specialists. Over the past twenty years, however, strong work has emerged from specialists in film, television, art, publishing and linguistics.

Our MA Science Fiction and Fantasy will introduce you to contemporary work in these genres across a range of media. You’ll benefit from networking and career-building opportunities with professionals in the industry who will give you insight into how materials in these genres are produced and disseminated to their fans.

You will consider science fiction and fantasy as products shaped by interactions between the entertainment industry, reviewers and critics as well as their own fans. By analysing how the boundaries of these genres have been established, policed, challenged and extended, you will learn to apply your own theories to a range of popular works - and produce your own original writing.

Your studies will be supported by our team of published writers and experts in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, including the Course Leader, World Fantasy Award-winning author Dr Helen Marshall (Gifts for the One Who Comes After), Dr Una McCormack (Star Trek – The Missing; Doctor Who: An Eye for Murder), Dr Martin Zeilinger (co-director of the Toronto-based Vector Game Art & New Media Festival), and Honorary Associate Fellow, John Clute (Appleseed; Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction).

All your modules will be delivered through blended learning. Each will begin with a period of guided reading, with your personal studies supported by online forums, discussions, tutorials and other resources on our Learning Management System. You will also attend one week of on-site, intensive teaching for each module. This includes lectures, seminars, workshops, student presentations and student-led discussions. For the rest of your studies, you will receive tutorial support via email or Skype.

At the end of the course, you will undertake a Major Project. This can be a conventional academic project or a creative piece with critical commentary - the choice is yours.

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Whether you simply enjoy Victorian literature or are looking to prepare for further research, the Victorian Literature pathway provides a comprehensive training in nineteenth-century literature and culture. Victorian studies at Liverpool has a long history of combining a strong literary focus with a commitment to innovative critical techniques and interdisciplinary study, and the modules examine such varied issues as the relationship of Victorian writers to their Romantic predecessors; the impact of different sub-cultures in the Victorian period (print culture, theatrical culture, scientific culture); the rich variety of poetry and fantasy in the period; and how the Victorians have been received and re-shaped in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Victorian Literature pathway also offers the opportunity for students to go on organised visits to local Victorian heritage sites, and attend informal postgraduate colloquia with like-minded students from other local universities in the stunning surroundings of Gladstone’s Library in North Wales.

Students opting for the Victorian Literature pathway are required to take at least 60 credits from the specialist modules listed below in addition to the core modules (Research Skills, Dissertation Project, Dissertation). The remaining 30 elective credits can be taken in any pathway run by the School of English or across the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Why English?

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), we ranked 10th out of 89 in the UK for 4* (world-leading) and 3* (internationally excellent) research.

Strong postgraduate community

With over 150 taught and research students from all over the world, you will be part of a genuine international community. You will be able to participate in our lively research culture through attending regular seminars and lectures by guest speakers as well as our own staff and students. A legacy from former tutor Miriam Allott has allowed the department to host a creative writing fellow (currently the poet Sean Borodale), and a vibrant series of international poetry readings. Recent conferences include ‘On Liberties’ at St Deiniol’s Library, and ‘Renaissance Old Worlds’ in collaboration with the British Library. As a doctoral student you can participate in the optional English Graduate Teaching Programme, which allows doctoral students to get the best of the teaching opportunities available without making significant demands on their time.

Career prospects

The independence of study, clarity of expression and management of time demanded by all our taught programmes equip the successful graduate with the skills and knowledge base required for further academic study and research in English and other areas.

However, many graduates choose to enter careers such as teaching, publishing and journalism, or to work in the business sector, often in human resources, administration, marketing or sales.

Successful alumni have gone on to teach English at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels in schools around the globe. A significant number of MA graduates have also continued their studies to PhD level.

Successful alumni have gone on to teach English at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels in schools around the globe. A significant number of MA graduates have also continued their studies at PhD level.

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Explore Emerson's Graduate Programs

Fantasy. Science fiction. Horror. Mystery. Young adult. Become a genre fiction author with our Online Master of Fine Arts in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing. Our flexible graduate program allows you to work on your writing from anywhere in the world, with online workshops, literature seminars, and publishing courses that fit your schedule. Become a better writer, explore the history of your genre, and learn how to take the first steps toward publishing. 

In this program, you'll have the chance to:

• Develop your skills and focus on creating plot and character-driven stories,
• Learn how books are published and marketed from trade publishing professionals, 
• Connect with a network of renowned writers, publishers, and academics, and
• Craft a thesis to submit to agents or self-publish, with one-on-one support from your advisor

Why Popular Fiction?

The MFA in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing is one of the first online writing programs to prepare students to write professional-level stories and novels in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, thrillers, and young adult. The program is an opportunity for students to read deeply, think critically, and discuss popular fiction with peers from various professional perspectives. Students will strengthen their writing and editing skills and learn contemporary practices for publishing their work or finding and working with literary agents, professional editors, and marketers to bring their vision to a wide readership. The program, which draws on the expertise of writers, literary scholars, and publishers, offers students the unique experience to take creative workshops and literature courses as well as hands-on publishing courses aimed at teaching them how to turn a completed manuscript into a polished, publishable work.

Why Online?

The online MFA program provides a chance to understand the nature of story-telling from a personal, historical and market perspective. Online writing workshops serve as the core of the curriculum and are designed to allow writers of different genres to work together to gain a deeper understanding of the art and craft of writing popular fiction. To complement the workshop experience, our online program also requires you to take literature courses on the history and current trends in specific genres as well as publishing course that explore the different paths to publications.

The online program is convenient and flexible, allowing students from anywhere in the world to work on their fiction writing, including working adults, parents, or those who are unable to attend a traditional college. The program is designed to work around students’ schedules, and there are no residency requirements. Our online workshops, literature seminars, and publishing courses give students the ability to participate in class discussions with ease and to plan their study time around family, work, or other life commitments. The program provides a comfortable learning environment for writers.

What Unique Opportunities does the online MFA in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing Provide?

• A focus on developing plot and character-driven stories in genres of speculative fiction, thriller, and young adult
• A chance to learn from professionals from trade publishing on how books are published and marketed
• A network of writers, publishers, and academics
• The ability to take classes from anywhere in the world
• Courses that fit your busy schedule

Why Emerson College?

The Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College is home to one of the longest running creative writing MFA programs in the country and one of the only Masters programs in publishing in North America. Based in the heart of downtown Boston, Emerson sits at the crossroads of intellectual inquiry, creative endeavor, and innovation. The College has fostered a community of writers, editors, publishers, and teachers for several decades. The online program in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing promotes a space for fiction writers who want to focus on working in the areas of speculative fiction, crime novels, or young adult literature.

The MFA at a Glance

With rolling admissions in Fall, Spring, and Summer, our online program offers students online workshops where they can learn how to build their worlds and develop their skills. Students will take writing workshops, literature classes that will provide a framework for understanding the tradition of their genre, and publishing courses that will instruct them on the various options for publishing genre fiction. Students will also work one-on-one with a faculty advisor to craft a thesis to send out to agents or be self-published.

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Who is it for?

The Audiovisual Translation and Popular Culture postgraduate course is for you, if you:

• are interested in popular culture, films, TV, literature, comics or graphic novels
• love languages, other cultures and their differences
• are interested in translation and want to learn about systematic decision-making
• know about translation and want to specialise
• have an amateur or fan background in translation and want to become a professional
• have studied foreign languages, linguistics, literature, media, film, theatre, drama or cultural studies.
• are looking for a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of translation.
• want to gain an insight into professional practice in audiovisual translation or in literary translation.

The Masters course aims to make students fit for the market as properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Objectives

This course:

• provides you with training in audiovisual translation techniques
• uses industry-standard software for subtitling, dubbing and voice over
• specialises in the translation of children’s literature; crime fiction; science fiction and fantasy; comics, graphic novels, manga and video games
• introduces you to the different conventions and styles associated with popular culture in its varied forms and genres
• focuses on the specifics of genre translation and how these shape translation decisions
• provides a theoretical framework for the practical application of translation, working with a wide range of source texts from different popular genres and media.

The Audiovisual Translation and Popular Culture degree:

• aims to give you a secure foundation in theoretical strategies underpinning and supporting the practice of translation
• develops your awareness of professional standards, norms and translational ethics
• works closely with professional translators and the translation industry helping you to develop a professional identity
• has optional modules in dubbing, translation project management, screenplay translation and publishing.

Placements

There are no course-based placements on this course. Literary translation does not offer placements, while audiovisual companies offer internships which are competitive.

We support and guide our students through the application process for audiovisual translation internships and have a very good record of achievement. Each year, several of our students win one of these very competitive internships and they tend to be offered full time work on completion.

The course is very industry-oriented and we work closely with the translation industry. Industry professionals teach on the course, supervise students or give guest seminars and lectures.

Academic staff have run Translation Development courses, for example in genre translation for professional translators for the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and they are involved in running Continuing Professional Development courses in specialised translation.

We run a preparatory, distance learning course for the professional Diploma in Translation examined by the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

We organise a Literary Translation Summer School each July which is taught by professional, literary translators and with lectures by prestigious translators, academics or writers.

John Dryden Translation Competition

The Translation department runs the John Dryden Translation Competition for the British Comparative Literature Association. The competition is sponsored by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the Institut Français. We offer one internship per year in working on this Translation Competition, interacting with translators, translation judges, managing competition entries and learning about the judging process.

Teaching and learning

The course is taught by academics, industry professionals (for example, audiovisual translation project manager) and translation professionals (for example, award winning literary translators, experienced subtitlers).

Teaching is delivered in a combination of lectures, seminars, practical workshops and lab-based sessions for audiovisual translation. In workshop sessions students work individually, in pairs, group work or plenary forum in a multilingual and multicultural environment.

In all translation modules, there is also a translation project prepared in independent guided study under the supervision of a translation professional in the student’s language pair and language directionality. You can expect some on-line learning, supported by seminar sessions, and industry visits to audiovisual translation companies.

In the Translation project management module, students work in project groups performing real-life translation roles and tasks in a collaborative environment.

Assessment

Assessment is 100% coursework – there are no examinations.

Coursework assignments are a mixture of essays, translation projects, translation commentaries, subtitling and voice over files or project work.

The dissertation is 12,000 to 15,000 words long and can either be a research project on any topic relevant to Audiovisual Translation or Popular Literary Translation / Culture or it can be practice oriented: a translation of an extended text or AV clip with critical introduction to and analysis of the translation.

Coursework assignments: 66.6% (120 credits)

Dissertation: 33.3% (60 credits)

Modules

There are five compulsory taught modules plus three elective taught modules, selected by the student from a pool of module choices, plus a dissertation which can be a research dissertation or a practice-oriented dissertation of an extended translation with critical introduction and analysis.

Each taught module is an estimated 150 hours of study. Teaching consists of lectures, seminars and workshops plus independent individually supervised work.

The first part of the translation modules is taught in three-hour sessions (lecture + seminar + practical workshop). In the second part of each translation module, students work on a translation project which is individually supervised by a translation professional who gives written feedback on drafts and provides tailored advice and guidance in individual supervision sessions.

Students can expect between ten and 12 hours of classroom-based study per week, plus time spent on preparatory reading, independent study and research, preparation of assignments.

The dissertation is 60 credits and an estimated 600 hours of study. There are four two-hour research method seminars guiding students through the process of writing a dissertation, plus individual supervision sessions.

All taught modules are in term 1 and term 2 (January – April). Term 3 is dedicated to the dissertation (and completion of assignments from term 2 modules).

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You can specialise in either Film Practice or Film Studies. Our Film Practice PhD provides you with a unique opportunity to develop your film as a practice-led research project. Alternatively you can undertake a Film Studies, MPhil or PhD studying British, Algerian, Chinese, French or Latin American cinema.

Film Studies, MPhil and PhD

As a Film Studies MPhil or PhD student you will form a crucial part of our research culture. Our thriving community of postgraduate students work across schools and disciplines. Research ranges from modern languages to English literature, English language, linguistics and arts and cultures.

We are keen to work with postgraduates in the major research projects listed below, or in the more general areas related to them. We supervise projects that span academic schools and sub-disciplines, ensuring the best fit between your interests and the expertise of our staff.

Early cinema and cinema culture in Britain and the USA

Dr A Shail

• the history of film style
• popular cinema culture
• points of contact between literature and film
• Hollywood after 1975

Latin American cinema

Dr P Page

• cinema and memory studies
• cinema and the imaginaries of post-conflict
• cinema and contemporary Latin American society
• cinema and the city
• cinema and theatre - performance studies

French cinema

Dr S Leahy

• popular film from the 1930s to the present
• stardom
• gender and representation
• cinema audiences and theories of spectatorship

Algerian cinema

Professor G Austin

• postcolonial cinema
• cinema and the representation of trauma
• cinema and the Algerian War
• contemporary French cinema
• French horror and fantasy cinema
• cinema and the work of Pierre Bourdieu

Transnational Chinese cinema

Dr S Yu

• Chinese independent films and film festivals
• transnational Chinese cinema
• stardom and performance
• gender and sexuality
• audience and reception studies
• action and martial arts genres

We organise an annual postgraduate conference for the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and you can get involved in a number of film-related research seminars on campus, including:

• the Research Group in Film and Media series
• the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics visiting speaker series
• the School of Modern Languages research seminar series

You will benefit from the North Eastern Regional Film Seminar, which brings together film scholars from the Universities of Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside, Durham and York for a one day symposium.

There is also the Film Factory, an exciting new film forum for students and staff, initiated by two PhD students from the School of Modern Languages, Gary Jenkins and Mani Sharpe. It consists of a series of film screenings followed by discussion and debate at the Culture Lab.

Delivery

You will normally be taught on the Newcastle University campus. Attendance is flexible and agreed between you and your supervisors depending on the requirements of your research project. 

Film Studies, MPhil and PhD - Facilities

You will have the opportunity to use Culture Lab, a centre for creative practice which includes a stock of film cameras and editing suites, as well as motioncapture, animation and soundmixing technology.

The Language Resource Centre and Peter Robinson Library hold large collections of international films and film magazines. You will also have access to a dedicated postgraduate suite including computers, workspaces, a kitchen and showers.

There are fantastic local film facilities including the Tyneside Cinema and British Film Institute Mediatheque.

You will also have guided access to Tyne and Wear Archives.

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Our researchers are internationally recognised experts in their fields, with three quarters of their research rated world leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised in the latest Research Assessment Exercise.

The Hispanic Studies division was rated 5A in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise.

Supervision is provided in the major areas of Spanish, Spanish American and Portuguese literary and cultural studies. Members of staff have research interests in the following fields: Medieval: modern literary theory as applied to medieval texts; mythology and fantasy; oral literature; questions of transmission and textual criticism; Golden Age: Cervantes and the development of fiction; political and social thought; theatre; European Baroque culture; Modern Peninsular: Generation of 98; modern and contemporary fiction; narrative forms; Spanish American and Brazilian: Argentinian culture; women writers; gender, sexuality and representation; and theory.

Training and support

We offer supervision in the major areas of Spanish, Spanish-American and Portuguese literary and cultural studies, with particular research strengths in the 19th century, theatre of all periods, and the visual arts.

Thanks to the breadth of language research undertaken within the graduate school here at Edinburgh, we can also accommodate an interest in cross-cultural research with a programme of joint supervision.

Our staff pursue a diversity of research interests, offering you a wide choice of areas for study. Research staff have interests in the following fields:

• Cervantes and the development of fiction
• European Baroque culture
• gender, sexuality and representation
• Golden Age
• medieval (modern literary theory as applied to medieval texts)
• modern and contemporary fiction
• modern peninsular: generation of ’98
• mythology and fantasy
• narrative forms
• oral literature
• political and social thought
• questions of transmission and textual criticism
• Spanish American, Brazilian and Argentinian culture
• the essay and newspaper columns
• theatre
• women writers

Facilities

You will have access to the impressive collections of the University’s Main Library, in addition to the nearby National Library of Scotland and its outstanding collection of early modern Spanish material.

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