Modern and Contemporary Literature

MA Modern and Contemporary Literature

Full-Time Programme

This masters degree aims to investigate the key texts and paradigms which shape our conception of literature and culture across a century of unprecedented change. We will move from the classic formulations of Modernity offered by figures such as Baudelaire and Freud, through the classic manifestos of Modernist movements, hit the millenium via discussions of postmodernism and the fate of the avant-garde, and chart new twenty-first century developments. We will explore varied symptoms of the vertiginous experience of modernity, from the Modernist manifessto to contemporary narratives of trauma. Through the historical and theoretical frameworks of imperialism and de-colonisation, the rise of globalisation, and the emergence of trans-national aesthetics, we will explore text from British, American and post-colonial contexts.

There are possibilities for adopting options from other MAs and the opportunity to join a number of graduate seminars and reading groups, and occasional discussions with practising novelists and poets.