This course offers a structured learning environment, a good grounding in literary theory, and the opportunity to specialise in an area of your choice. It aims to engage in wide and varied reading among the regional and global varieties of literature and literary criticism; think both critically and creatively about literature in English; assess the form and meaning of literary and filmic texts; develop their understanding of the characteristics of key literary genres (prose fiction, poetry, and drama) and periods (post-1500), and of the principles of canonisation that elevate and marginalise texts and their authors; understand, evaluate, and apply to literary texts a range of critical ideas and theories relevant to textual criticism at Masters level.