About the course
Literature is a dynamic force for change. Hull English postgraduates gain insight into society, culture and politics by developing an understanding of the power of language. This MA provides students with a thorough grounding in research methods and practices.
Our MA in English can be tailor-made to your interests in either Creative Writing or English Literature, or both. In this fully flexible MA programme, you choose to focus on the writers, or forms of writing, that most interest you. Our MA English programme comes highly recommended, receiving 100% overall satisfaction from our MA students in the national 2018/19 Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), with 100% agreeing that they would recommend the university as a place to study.
There are designated literature pathways allowing students to focus their studies on either Renaissance Literature and Culture, Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture, or a combination of all three. Creative Writing modules allow students to focus their interests on both fiction and non-fiction prose forms, as well as poetry and scriptwriting.
The MA programme culminates in a summer research project – either a dissertation or creative writing portfolio, depending on your interests: you choose the project, and then work on it over the summer months with dedicated support from a subject specialist from the Department of English, Creative Writing, and American Studies.
What you'll study
All our students undertake a core training module in advanced level literary studies and creative writing – Research, Creativity, and Engagement – in trimester 1. This culminates in a one-day postgraduate conference, student-led and supported by the module tutors and convenor.
All students choose three further options across trimesters 1 and 2, from the indicative list of modules below. There is a final dissertation or creative portfolio worth 60 credits, and taught modules are worth 120 credits in total (30 credits each module).
Teaching methods will include seminars, creative writing workshops, student presentations and small group exercises.
All modules are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.
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Research, Creativity and Engagement
You'll be trained in research and practice-based methods in literary studies, creative writing or both. You'll work with the University-based Journal of Gender Studies to develop your reviewing skills or preparing your work for publication skills. You'll then present aspects of your research at a conference day.
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Dissertation
You will make an original contribution to research by designing, carrying out and writing up a project on a topic of your choice, supported by your dissertation supervisor.
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Creative Writing Portfolio
Creative writing students can opt for the Creative Writing Portfolio, rather than the Dissertation. Supported by a supervisor you will produce a substantial piece of creative writing, such as a novel extract, a novella, a group of short stories, a collection of poetry, or a script/screenplay.
All modules are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.
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Literature, Theatre and the Gothic
This module offers a detailed study of the writing of Bram Stoker and the Gothic literary and theatrical cultures of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. You will study Egyptian mummies, fairies and vampires, Gothic Shakespeare (on the Victorian stage), and supernatural melodrama.
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Gender in Popular Culture
This module analyses masculinity and femininity in genres central to contemporary popular fiction and film, such as crime fiction, chick and lad lit, war fiction, true crime and the gangster movie. You'll analyse these novels and films using the theoretical perspectives of Bakhtin, Foucault, Butler, Bourdieu and Fiske.
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Shakespeare and Early Modern Transformations
You will be introduced to classical and early modern theories of imitation and originality, and modern theories of intertextuality as a starting point for considering how works by Shakespeare and other early modern writers can be understood as intertextual ‘transformations’ in relation to both classical and medieval precursors, and contemporary works of fiction and art.
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Contemporary Children's Literature
You will explore key categories and developments in modern and contemporary children's fiction, such as the Gothic, Young Adult, Holocaust literature and fantasy writing. Focal texts include works by Roald Dahl, Jacqueline Wilson, Neil Gaiman, and Lemony Snicket as well as John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses, Morris Gleitzman’s Once, and John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
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Modern City Fictions
Engage with ideas of the city and urban living in a range of fictions, including novels and other creative prose from the end of the 20th century to the present. You'll produce either a creative writing piece or a critical essay.
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Fictions of Flooding: From Noah to Now
With flooding on the increase in today’s warming world, this module explores fictions of flooding to ask how we can learn from the past to live with flood risks today. You will study recent examples of climate fiction alongside the various myths of a great, global flood.
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Writing from Life; Creative Non-Fiction
On this module, students will be introduced to a wide range of non-fiction prose, including travel writing, true crime, narrative history and biography. You will produce a portfolio of non-fiction and reflective writings related to 'incarceration'. You'll also expand your writing's horizons by taking part in and leading off-campus workshops with community groups.
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Writing Short Stories
Develop your understanding of the short story form by critically engaging with and examining a range of examples. You'll then build on this understanding by writing your own stories.
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Writing the Novel
How does an opening chapter make the rest of a novel inevitable? Through reading, workshops, and studies of character, plot and structure, you'll kick-start your own novel.