English Literature and History - BA (Hons)

Durham University

Delve into the excitement of the literary past and acquire a range of both literary-critical and historical knowledge.,The Joint Honours in BA English Literature and History is a cross-disciplinary course, which develops and assesses skills that are common to both disciplines alongside others that are specific to each. The course offers you the opportunity to acquire a range of both literary-critical and historical knowledge. The English part of your degree not only provides a thorough grounding in the ‘great tradition’ of English literature – from Chaucer and Shakespeare through to plays, poems and novels written in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries – and in literary theory, but it also offers a wide range of imaginative and carefully designed modules. The history element offers you one of the most varied, exciting and wide-ranging courses in the country. You will explore the full range of history from the end of the Roman Empire to the present day. You can also apply to add a placement year or a year abroad to your degree, this would increase the course from three years to four. In the first year of your degree, you'll get an introduction into the disciplines of literature and advanced historical study. In the second year, you are required to engage with a range of periods and styles of literary and historical study. The third year will include a dissertation as well as optional modules for both subjects.Course structureYear 1 modulesCore modules:English Introduction to DramaIntroduction to the NovelIntroduction to PoetryRomance and the Literature of ChivalryEpic and Literature of LegendAncient Worlds and English Literature History (three modules) Decline and Crisis? Europe 1300-1500Transformations in the Late Antique Mediterranean, c.300-c.700 CEConnected Histories: Early Modern Europe, c.1450-1750The Atlantic Archipelago, c.1500-c.1750Modern Times: a Cultural History of Europe, c.1860-1960Power in AfricaImagining East Asia in the Modern WorldWars and Welfare: c.1900-1945The Rise and Fall of American Slavery Year 2 modulesCore modules:Theory and Practice of Literary Criticism introduces the presuppositions and principles of literary criticism and issues of knowledge, value and ideology arising from the practice of reading. You will develop an independent critical sense in your own practice of reading.Shakespeare introduces a broad range of Shakespeare’s work and will enable you to analyse in detail a selection of works from different periods of Shakespeare’s oeuvre and in different genres.Optional modules:In recent years, optional modules have included: ChaucerVictorian LiteratureAmerican PoetryContemporary US Fiction and the Question of GenreRomantic Plays and PlayersThe BrontësMedieval Islamic WorldModern China’s TransformationsBlack British HistoryPhotographic Histories.Year 3 modulesCore modules:Dissertation In the third year you will produce a Dissertation,a large research project undertaken in either English Literature or History. This involves guided research on a topic of interest.Optional modules:In recent years, optional modules have included: Restoration and 18th Century LiteratureOld EnglishOld NorseLiterature of the Romantic PeriodPost-War Fiction and PoetryKeats and ShelleyResistance in South Asian Postcolonial LiteratureUS Cold War Literature and Culture1688: Monarchy and Revolution in BritainDeveloping AfricaMapping Eastern Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth CenturiesSexual Revolutions: The Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Britain and Beyond, 1920s–1970s.Additional Pathways Students can apply to be transferred onto either the with Year Abroad or with Placement pathway. Places on these pathways are in high demand and if you are chosen your studies will extend from three years to four or four to five depending on course.