English Literature

Course summary

This is a course that delves deeply into the human experience. It explores debates concerning the meaning, intention and impact of literary texts in their explorations of humanity and the world, as well as the nature of literature itself. The course is based around discussion and wide, independent reading. Students are encouraged to develop the intellectual confidence to explore writers’ purposes, techniques, contexts, themes and effects on an increasingly complex level. Students develop their skills in critical thinking through exploring and evaluating different critical interpretations, through class discussions, and their own research and writing. Students study a wide variety of texts, covering prose, poetry and drama, from the 17th to the 21st Century. The texts are selected to both represent key texts in the history of literature and also to provide enjoyment and enrichment. Students also choose a text of their own to study and research for coursework. Most students find the process of wide reading in order to select their text one of the most fascinating and rewarding aspects of the course. Typical choices are novels by Monica Ali, Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, Ian McEwan and Zora Neale Thurston.