MA Wild Writing: Literature, Landscape and the Environment

University of Essex

Postgraduate

In Colchester

£ 6,125 + VAT

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Description

  • Type

    Postgraduate

  • Location

    Colchester

  • Duration

    1 Year

About the course
Essex is one of the oldest inhabited areas of the British Isles, a landscape shaped by human history

Our MA Wild Writing allows you to explore this landscape and the wilder landscapes of Britain, as well as those across the world, through a combination of science and literature modules

Our field trips take you outside the classroom, often in sun, sometimes in snow or rain

You gain an understanding of key environmental challenges while building your own ways of approaching writing about the wild: creative, critical, and scientific


One of only five universities in the UK to offer a taught postgraduate course on literature and the environment, we are unique in our combination of modules on contemporary nature writing, ecocriticism, and psychogeographic literature


Our full-year focus on writing about landscape, place, and the environment allows you the choice of focusing on developing your scholarly abilities through exploring ecocriticism, or on developing your creative writing practice about the natural world – or you can aim to advance both


Your core modules cover topics including:
the emergent creative non-fiction genre exemplified by figures such as Robert Macfarlane, Kathleen Jamie, and Helen Macdonald
19th – 21st century environmental poetry and prose
contemporary ecocriticism and environmental literature
psychogeography
An unusual collaboration between the departments of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies and Biological Sciences, we also offer you the opportunity to gain a greater scientific depth of knowledge about the natural world as you develop as a writer

Facilities

Location

Start date

Colchester (Essex)
See map
Wivenhoe Park, CO4 3SQ

Start date

On request

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Subjects

  • Writing
  • Poetry
  • Prose

Course programme

Example structure
Postgraduate study is the chance to take your education to the next level. The combination of compulsory and optional modules means our courses help you develop extensive knowledge in your chosen discipline, whilst providing plenty of freedom to pursue your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.
For many of our courses you’ll have a wide range of optional modules to choose from – those listed in this example structure are, in many instances, just a selection of those available. Our Programme Specification gives more detail about the structure available to our current postgraduate students, including details of all optional modules.
Year 1
Dissertation
The New Nature Writing
Memory Maps: Practices in Psychogeography
Literature and the Environmental Imagination: 19th to 21st Century Poetry and Prose
Research Methods in Literary and Cultural Analysis
US Nationalism and Regionalism (optional)
Managing for Ethics and Sustainability (optional)
Pollution: Impacts and Management (optional)
Conservation Management and Practice
Environmental Economics (optional)
Fisheries Ecology (optional)
Environmental Politics (optional)
Colonialism, Cultural Diversity and Human Rights (optional)
Teaching
An emphasis on practice, going outside of the classroom where possible
Field trips to the local area
Visits from the authors you are studying
Seminars may include introductions by your tutor, presentations by you, and discussion based on a programme of reading
Training in research skills in the sciences including practical work in computer labs
Biology modules may involve field sessions
Assessment
Literature modules assessed by essays of 4,000-5,000 words, usually combining a creative piece and critical commentary
Biological Sciences modules include assessed coursework
Dissertation
You produce a dissertation of approximately 20,000 words
This takes the form either of a critical essay, or a creative piece with an accompanying critical commentary
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Additional information

You might want to explore the impacts and management of pollution or the ecology of fisheries You will explore the literature of landscape and the environment both within the seminar room and beyond, exploring the wild spaces of Essex and East Anglia through field trips that take you to wonderfully wild worlds in the company of leading experts We visit inspiring areas including Mersea Island, Orford Ness, Tilbury, and the Norfolk Fens <p>If you cannot see this video, you can <a href=http://vimeo com/148358384>watch it on our Vimeo channel</a> within your browser </p> “I see the edge of the grey tarmac and every individual blade of grass, I see the hare leaping out of its hiding place, with its ears laid back and a curiously human expression on its face that was rigid with terror and strangely divided; and in its eyes, turning to look back as it fled and almost popping out of its head with fright, I see myself, become one with it ” W G Sebald, The Rings of Saturn, writing about a visit to Orford Ness – a site for one of the course field trips Our expert staff Our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies is ranked Top 200 in the QS World University Rankings (2016), with three-quarters of our research rated ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (REF 2014) Teachers on the course include the internationally renowned ecocriticism scholar Dr Susan Oliver, who is a specialist in Romantic and 19th-century studies; the poet and nature writer Dr Chris McCully; and, environmental scholar and writer Professor Jules Pretty The MA Wild Writing is led by the writer Dr James Canton, who recently spoke on Radio 4’s ‘Open Country’ about the landscapes of Essex, and specialises in nature and travel writing Specialist facilities Start to get some publications to your name by writing for our student nature writing blog Wildeasters Access our archives – the University of Essex is home to the...

See related categories

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  • Literature Postgraduate Degrees in Colchester
  • Postgraduate Degrees in Colchester
  • University of Essex Postgraduate Degrees

MA Wild Writing: Literature, Landscape and the Environment

£ 6,125 + VAT

The best Literature courses

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See all