Anglo American Literature and Creative Writing

Anglo-American Literature and Creative Writing M.A. Programme

• Today, English Literature includes not only work produced in the United Kingdom, but also work created in other English-speaking countries. For some time now, literature produced in highly diverse geographical locations – such as the United States, South Africa, Canada, the Caribbean Islands, Central African countries, India and South Asia – is now considered to fall well within the scope of English Literary Studies. What is more, such texts and the critical work that surrounds them are now widely read and discussed on M.A. programmes around the world. Therefore, a proper English Literature curriculum that targets future academics, critics and authors should be designed and developed in light of such innovative principles and with an awareness of the important cultural and critical issues that surround them.

• This shift in attitude is predicated on the belief that, as a form of academic enquiry, English Literature should not be construed as a static discipline in which a fixed set of writers and works are endlessly reexamined with exclusive reference to their own epoch’s particular creative and critical zeitgeists. Instead, it should be seen as a constantly transforming field that seeks to respond authentically to the everchanging social, cultural and economic circumstances in which texts are re-read and – in a sense – ‘made new’ by each generation. Considered in this manner, the discipline aims to expand on our conception of just what literature in English is and, perhaps most importantly, who exactly are its key figures.

• Moreover, literature is an area that accumulates meaning to the extent that it intersects with other disciplines – hence it should not be treated in a vacuum. The fact that literature is intertwined with cultural studies, women's studies, gender studies, linguistics, philosophy, art, cinema, theater, psychology, history, folklore, science fiction, popular culture, media and politics should also be accepted in an interdisciplinary framework.

• In the light of these facts, the field of literature should not be distanced from creative production; it should analyze literary works by considering their processes of production and should provide students with the opportunity to produce creative works throughout their education. Such an impulse is also inspired by the notion that both creative and critical writing in the field of literary endeavor have always been significantly entwined, and that the separation of the two methods of engagement with literature limits a student’s professional development within their chosen field of study.

• Importantly, the Anglo-American Literature and Creative Writing M.A. Programme aims to eschew the notion that students are simply consumer/objects in a pass-fail based educational system. Contrarily, our M.A. programme is designed to help students grow by enabling them to publish in both a creative and critical sense. Our curriculum aims to cement the students’ relationship with popular culture, such as television and media, and help them perform what they write. Our creative writing lessons seek to inspire the next generation of writers and, in so doing, attempts to guide those who will one day influence how we, and those who come after us, express ourselves.