Modern Greek Studies MRes

It is made up of three taught modules (further module information is available below) and a 20,000-word supervised research thesis on a topic of your choice in Modern Greek Studies. We recommend that you discuss your proposed research project with a potential supervisor before applying.

This module will provide an introduction to generic skills training for Historical Studies postgraduates. It will introduce a range of research, library and generic skills that will be applicable to your thesis and research experience, as well as subject/discipline specific training.
Assessment: 4,000 word essay

You will choose two optional modules. At present the following modules are available, but options will vary from year to year.

The module will introduce you to modernism as a literary movement in European and Greek literature by examining its emergence and its main features. Through this perspective the module charts the developments in Greek poetry and the response of individual poets to issues of versification, uses of myth and attitudes to the past. This involves the analysis of individual poems or collections of poems by leading Greek poets (Cavafy, Karyotakis, Seferis, Elytis and Ritsos) in order to examine in detail their cultural politics and views on history and language. The discussion of Greek modernist poetry will also focus on its intertextual relations with European and American poetry and will focus on how Greek modernists read or translated other poets.
Assessment: Three-hour unseen examination

The aim of this module is to map out the transition of Greek fiction from realism to postmodernism by analysing some key texts of the twentieth century and by surveying literary and cultural developments. Particular attention will be paid as to how realism, modernism and postmodernism developed in Greece and comparisons will be made with similar trends in other literatures. The discussion of the texts will be placed in a wider comparative and cultural context while the experimentation of individual writers with different modes of writing will be explored. This module involves a rigourous analysis of narrative texts by employing narrative theory and by training you to gain greater familiarity with narrative techniques and recent developments in narratology.
Assessment: 4,000 word written essay

The Balkans and Middle East, covering the period from 1800 to the present, are regions which have a geostrategic significance that, aligned with rising nationalism, produced conflicts, generated internally or externally and sometimes in combination, on a regular basis. Many of these wars had a profound impact both within the region and farther afield. The themes covered in this module are: the transition from empire to nation states; the role of foreign powers, international diplomacy and external military intervention; nationalism, colonialism and regional conflicts; religions, identities and conflict; modernisation and peace efforts.
Assessment: 4,000 word written essay

The module deals with the interaction of politics and culture in Greece from the 1950s onwards by focusing on developments in the areas of literature, film, music and popular culture. It involves the analysis of the cultural impact of major political events such as the military dictatorship (1967-1974); the rise of PASOK to power; Greece's entry into the EU and the developments in the Balkans during the 1990s. It also examines the role of Orthodoxy in the Balkan context; the development of the media in Greece; language and cultural controversies; attitudes to the past; the role of censorship; the significance of the family in Greek society; and the impact of tourism and multiculturalism.
Assessment: 4,000 word essay

The programme is completed with a 20,000-word thesis, supported by expert academic supervision.