B.A. in Literature and Society: English Literature in a Visual Culture

Bachelor's degree

Online

£ 6,657.81 VAT inc.

*Indicative price

Original amount in EUR:

7,786 €

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Methodology

    Online

  • Duration

    3 Years

  • Start date

    February

  • Online campus

    Yes

  • Delivery of study materials

    Yes

  • Support service

    Yes

  • Virtual classes

    Yes

How does literature bring about social change? How does our visual culture influence the way we read text, and vice versa? How is our sense of identity shaped by language and by narrative?

Throughout the Literature and Society Bachelor's programme at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you will ask all these questions and many more and will learn how to challenge the culture around you.

While literature often reflects major social movements, like the rise of feminism, it also has the power to effect social change. Consider the abolition of slavery in the US and the impact of novels like Uncle Tom's Cabin.

What's more, society's reading of literature in the present can change people's behaviour in the future - take the climate crisis, for instance. Text and change are intertwined.

Facilities

Location

Start date

Online

Start date

FebruaryEnrolment now open

About this course

Having completed bachelor's and master's degrees in literature, your writing skills will be top-notch, and your ability to think critically and ask challenging questions will be expertly honed. Plus, you will have the capacity to distill large amounts of complex information into well-structured, clear communications. These skills can be put to use in academia, the public sector, publishing houses, media, and more.

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Reviews

This centre's achievements

2020

All courses are up to date

The average rating is higher than 3.7

More than 50 reviews in the last 12 months

This centre has featured on Emagister for 6 years

Subjects

  • English
  • Writing
  • Social Change
  • Language
  • Visual language
  • Theoretical
  • Language and communications
  • Language and image
  • Language expert
  • Language Consultancy

Course programme

Curriculum

If you choose Literature and Society at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you won't just be reading books.

Of course, you'll learn to read critically and to apply a range of theoretical perspectives - from structuralism and post-modernism to feminism and post-colonialism. But you'll also study literature's visual language: film, television series, comics, illustrations and more. 19th Century novels were often illustrated and Game of Thrones fans have undoubtedly read the books and watched the HBO series - and the one inevitably impacts the other.

From a societal perspective, you'll examine why some books have entered the literary canon and others have been marginalised - and the culture that has promoted that difference. In fact, questioning the culture around you will become a key part of your lexicon: you'll become more self-reflexive, questioning where your opinions originate, as well as broader issues like political oppression and your involvement in it.

Literature and Society isn't only about reading - it's about writing, too. Writing well academically, but also writing creatively: finding your own voice, learning how to give and receive feedback on your work, and getting an understanding of the publishing process.

The VU's programme is fully in English, which means it attracts as many international students as it does Dutch students. Uniquely in the Netherlands, it focuses on literature, with only a small linguistic component. It's a programme for avid readers and critical thinkers: for all those who want to understand the story behind the story - in society as in literature.

The start date of this programme is September 1st.

First year

In your first year, you'll learn close reading techniques, research skills and how to write academic English. Plus, you'll get an overview of the main literary theories. You'll read a broad range of classic literature - from Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet' (studying the films as well as the play) to Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' (exploring the text from 15 theoretical perspectives). And while American and British authors are covered - Chaucer, Austen and Conrad, for example - you'll also be reading works from other English-speaking countries, like Americanah by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie.

Subjects
  • English Language Test Faculty of Humanities
  • Literary Theory
  • Literature, Culture and Society
  • Orientation Literature and Society 1
  • Academic English CIS-L&S Grammar
  • Academic Skills 1
  • Genre and Literary Analysis
  • Academic English CIS-L&S Writing
  • Academic Skills 2
  • Creative Writing L&S
  • Literature and Globalization
  • Orientation Literature and Society 2
  • Digital Literary Studies
  • English: International Communication
  • Shakespeare on Film
Second year

Your second year will focus on a historical overview of literature, from Renaissance texts through to the present day. You'll look at genre as well as country of origin - examining why novels and poetry have been canonised, while graphic novels and fan fiction have not. Plus, you'll take a creative writing course that's unique to VU Amsterdam, where you'll learn to write in different styles and get a taste of how the editing process works. In groups, you'll also get the chance to create your own literary journal.

Third year

Your third year is all about specialisation. In the first semester, you can choose to spend five months studying abroad in an English-speaking country. Or you can take a minor course (for 30 credits) from another programme. Or you can do an internship at a publishing house, book store or other literary organisation. In the second semester, you'll write your own individual thesis on a topic of your choice relating to one of the two specialisations: ‘English literature in a changing world’ or ‘English literature in a visual culture’.

Additional information

Tuition fee EU: €1084

B.A. in Literature and Society: English Literature in a Visual Culture

£ 6,657.81 VAT inc.

*Indicative price

Original amount in EUR:

7,786 €