English Literary Studies

Study the cultural meanings and associations of the various styles, genres and mediums in which English literature is produced. Explore a range of different critical and theoretical perspectives on advanced literary study on this flexible English Literary Studies program from University of York. 

The postgraduates of the English Literary Studies program from University of York go into academia and teaching, arts administration, journalism, broadcasting, public relations, social work, politics, the civil service, and management consultancy. Many alumni have also gone on to become successful novelists, poets and playwrights.

Quick Facts:

• Choose the modules that interest you the most, and develop an understanding of how English literature engages with a range of political, social and aesthetic issues.
• Taught and supervised by world-leading scholars, the course will develop your research skills, which you'll apply to a substantial piece of independent research. This will provide you with a foundation for doctoral research, as well as transferable skills for related careers in teaching, publishing, arts management and journalism. ​
• You’ll engage with the wider research culture of the Department of English, one of the UK's largest research centres in modern English. There will be a diverse schedule of seminars, conferences and reading groups for you to attend. You’ll also be part of the Humanities Research Centre, a vibrant interdisciplinary hub which will enable you to form close social and intellectual bonds over the course of your study.

Career opportunities

• Advertising, marketing, and public relations
• Arts administration
• Civil and diplomatic services
• Film, radio, social media, television, and theatre
• Journalism and broadcasting
• Law
• Government
• Academia
• Publishing
• Teaching

Course structure:

• Postgraduate Life in Practice

• Out of Time: Sexuality, Textuality, & the Queer Temporal Turn

• Auteures: Gender, Power & Authorship in Film and Literature

• Black Is/Black Ain't: Race & Speculation in the American Imaginary

• Greening the Renaissance. Theology, Science & the Natural World, 1600 - 1700

• Writing Worlds: Power, Publishing & Resistance