English - Literary Studies

Overview

To provide students with the opportunity to develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of English Literary Studies, enabling students to pursue specialised fields of study (via guided pathways in specialist areas) or to choose a flexible arrangement of topics which bypass traditional period or national boundaries.



Course Structure

Students may enrol on a full-time or part-time basis. Full-time students take three modules per semester. Part-time students typically take one or two modules per semester.



Introduction

The PgDip in English Literary Studies offers a flexible system in which students can choose either specific topics to create a focused programme of study or widely diverse areas of literary study, according to their own preferences.



The School's literary studies staff comprise the largest group within the School of Arts, English and Languages and are thus able to teach a broad range of material: modules span the earliest writings in English (studied in their own historical and cultural contexts but also in relation to new digital cultures), to contemporary American literature and culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (incorporating literature and other aspects of culture, such as television and graphic arts). Other strengths of the School's expertise include Renaissance literature (particularly women's writing, the history of the child, and Shakespeare and World Cinema), eighteenth-century literature (women's writing, slavery and abolition, and Indian literatures in English) and nineteenth and twentieth-century literature (with specialisms including the fiction of Dickens, the fin de siècle and modernism).



All students on the programme take a subject-specific Literary Research Methods module that addresses the issues, challenges and research questions raised by advanced study in the subject. Students also select from a wide range of optional modules, permitting either specialism or diversity in the choice of study, from the earliest writings in English to the contemporary. Most modules are on offer annually, but there can be variation year to year subject to staff availability.

Year 1

Core Modules

Literary Research Methods (20 credits)



Optional Modules

Romantic-era Magazine and Print Culture (20 credits)

A Space for Radical Openness? Writing the Margins in Twentieth-Century British and Irish Literature (20 credits)

Incorrigibly Plural (20 credits)

Shakespearean Childhoods (20 credits)

Decadence and the Birth of Modernism (20 credits)

Special Topic Irish Writing (20 credits)

African Fiction: Race, Rites and Religion (20 credits)

Irish Poetry (20 credits)

Shakespeare and Asia (20 credits)

Discourses of Crime and Deviance (20 credits)

Popular Fiction at the Fin de Siècle (20 credits)

Magic and Science in Medieval Writings (20 credits)

Adaptation: texts, screens, cultures (20 credits)

Dickens in Context (20 credits)

Graduate

Normally a strong 2.2 Honours degree (with minimum of 55%) or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University in English, World/Comparative Literature, or joint or combined Honours with one of these disciplines as a major subject.



Applications may be considered from those who hold a 2.2 Honours degree (with minimum of 55%) or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University in a subject other than English or World/Comparative Literature (e.g. Classics, Law) if previous expertise in textual analysis or cultural history can be demonstrated.



All applicants are required to submit a piece of written work which may be assessed to determine if an offer of admission can be made. The piece of written work should demonstrate literary analysis, taking a specific literary text or a number of texts as its core focus. A personal statement expressing interest in the subject is not sufficient.



The University's Recognition of Prior Learning Policy provides guidance on the assessment of experiential learning (RPEL). Please visit the link below for more information.

http://go.qub.ac.uk/RPLpolicyQUB

Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible and ideally no later than 15th August 2025 for courses which commence in late September. In the event that any programme receives a high number of applications, the University reserves the right to close the application portal prior to the deadline stated on course finder. Notifications to this effect will appear on the application portal against the programme application page.

1 year (Full Time), 2 years (Part Time)

Entry Year: 2025/26

Career Prospects

Graduates from these programmes have a good employment record. Professions including publishing, journalism, public relations, teaching, IT, library science, corporate advertising, the Civil Service, business, industry and the media all recruit from our range of graduates. Some students choose to continue their studies to PhD level on a chosen, specialised topic in one of the pathways in English Literary Studies.



Queen's postgraduates reap exceptional benefits. Unique initiatives, such as the Future Ready Award, bolster our commitment to employability, while innovative leadership and executive programmes alongside sterling integration with business experts helps our students gain key leadership positions both nationally and internationally.