Comparative Literature with Film Studies

Course detail Description

The Comparative Literature with Film Studies BA degree is a three-year course that comprises of modules totalling 360 credits. Each year, you will take modules totalling 120 credits.

Your first year of study will consist of modules covering conceptions, methods and theoretical foundations of Comparative Literature. This will provide you with a rounded introduction to the subject, develop your analytical skills and introduce you to theory and methodology. You will also take two film studies modules.

In the second and third year, you will take further required and optional modules, allowing you to explore in-depth your chosen research pathway. The optional modules you study will reflect the current research and expertise of staff in the department, providing you with the opportunity to study specialist subjects in-depth.

You will also have the opportunity to study abroad in the first semester of the third year. Selected students in year three have the opportunity to study abroad with one of our partners in the USA, Italy, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany or France.

We use lectures, seminars and group tutorials to deliver most of the modules on the programme. You will also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study. You will be assigned a personal tutor who will provide support and guidance for your studies.

Typically, one credit equates to ten hours of work.

Your performance will be assessed through a combination of coursework and written/practical examinations. Forms of assessment may typically include coursework, assessed presentations and written examinations. The exact percentages will vary depending on which modules students choose.

The majority of learning for this degree takes place at the King’s College London Strand Campus, amongst many of the city’s theatres, galleries and musical and literary venues. Our students can thus readily benefit from the cultural resources of relevance to their undergraduate work. Please note that locations are determined by where each module is taught and may vary depending on the optional modules you select.

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Structure

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3

Year 1

This three-year course combines both required and optional modules to achieve a total of 120 credits for each year. You also have the option to study abroad in your third year.

You are required to take the following modules:

Comparative Literature

• What is Comparative Literature? Conceptions & Methods (15 credits)

• The Writer in the Text (15 credits)

• Comparative Literature: Theoretical Foundations (15 credits)

• Genres of World Literature (15 credits)

Film Studies

• Introduction to Film Studies: Forms (15 credits)

• Introduction to Film Studies: Contexts (15 credits)

Comparative Literature

In addition, you are required to take 15 credits from a range of optional modules which may typically include:

• Forms of Shorter Narrative (15 credits)
• The Novel in Eighteenth-Century Europe (15 credits)
• Reading Modern Poetry Comparatively (15 credits)
• Genres of World Literature (15 credits)

Additionally, you are required to select a further 15 credits of modules from Comparative Literature or optional modules from within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities.

Year 2 Required Modules

Comparative Literature

You are required to take the following modules:

• Literature of Empire (15 credits)
• Ideas of Nation (15 credits)
• The Book in the Modern World (15 credits) or the Canon (15 credits)

You are required to take Comparative Literature modules totalling 30 credits that may typically include:

• Romantic Britain & Italy (15 credits)
• Writing Africa (15 credits)
• Palestinian & Israeli Literature (15 credits)
• The Faust Tradition: Dramatic Transformations (15 credits)
• Socialism & Literature in India in the Twentieth Century (15 credits)
• Caribbean Drama (15 credits)

You are also required to take 30 credits from the following optional Film Studies modules, which may typically include:

• Asian Popular Cinemas (15 credits)
• Cinema & Spectatorship (15 credits)
• Chinese Cinemas (15 credits)
• Authorship & Creativity in the Cinema (15 credits)
• Film Forms (eg Documentary Film, Experimental Film) (15 credits)
• The French New Wave (15 credits)
• Italian Neo-Realism (15 credits)
• Contemporary European Cinema (15 credits)
• Topics in World Cinema (15 credits)
• Film Forms: Avant-Garde Cinema (15 credits)
• Contemporary Spanish Cinema (15 credits)

Year 3

In Year 3 you are required to write a dissertation, which must involve a Film Studies element. Additionally, you will take Comparative Literature & Film Studies options.

• Dissertation (30 credits) which must involve a Film Studies element.

You are also required to take at least 30 credits in Comparative Literature optional modules that may typically include:

• Surrealism (15 credits)
• Imaginary Geographies (15 credits)
• The French Revolution Effect (15 credits)
• Testimony: The Holocaust & Rwanda (15 credits)
• Listening across the Channel (15 credits)
• Modern Arabic Literature (15 credits)

Additionally, you are required to take 30 credits in Film Studies optional modules that may typically include:

• Film & Transnationalism (15 credits)
• American Underground Cinema (15 credits)
• Cinema & Social Formations (15 credits)
• Film Genre: Hollywood Musical (15 credits)
• Documentary in the Twenty-First Century (15 credits)
• Film Noir (15 credits)
• Film & Religion (15 credits)
• Film & Architecture (15 credits)
• The Biopic: Historical Lives & Biographical Screen Practices (15 credits)
• New Waves in East Asian Cinema (15 credits)
• Film Style, Criticism & Interpretation (15 credits)

You may also take up to 30 credits from approved optional modules offered by the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, to increase your credit total to 120, if this is not already achieved by your Comparative Literature and Film module choices.

You will have the opportunity to study abroad in the first semester of the third year. Partner universities currently include:

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Hong Kong University
• University of Bologna (Italian language required)
• University of Sydney
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (German language required – this is a German Department exchange which Comparative Literature students can access where space is available)
• Université Sorbonne IV (French language required – this is a French Department exchange which Comparative Literature students can access where space is available)

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change.