The British Literature & Culture model is the primarily historical model traditionally followed by most English departments. It remains central to preparation for much English graduate study. It provides a traditional background for teaching and for law. It enhances what has been called “cultural literacy.” Above all, it introduces students to the excellence and variety of British literature. The core courses of this model regard great literature as part of the history and culture of a people and also as the product of individual minds. These courses, accordingly, try at once to acquaint the student with many samples and varieties of works and to engage the student in an intensive scrutiny of particular works.
Before setting out on this academic journey it would be desirable for the student to take one or both of the following:
- ENL 2012 Survey of English Literature: Medieval to 1750
- ENL 2022 Survey of English Literature: 1750 to the Present
The model includes 6 courses in the concentration, to be taken 1 of 2 ways:
- 3 Early British courses, 2 Later British courses + 1 course in postcolonial or world literature in English
- 2 Early British courses, 3 Later British courses + 1 course in postcolonial or world literature in English
NOTE: Early is pre-Romantics; Later is Romantics to present.
The remaining four courses are taken from those offered by the English department including theory, writing, film, etc.
The student should consult the English website before selecting variable topics courses.
Faculty
Department of English faculty who regularly teach courses in this model include:
- Marsha Bryant – 20th-Century Literature & Culture (American & British), Poetry, Women’s Literature, Visual Culture
- Richard Burt – Shakespeare & Renaissance Drama; Film, Mass Media & Digital Media; Literary & Media Theory
- Pamela Gilbert – Victorian Literature & History, The Novel, Women’s Literature, Cultural Studies
- Sidney Homan – Drama (Shakespeare & Modern), Theatre, Acting & Directing
- Kenneth Kidd – 19th-Century Literature & Culture, Children’s Literature & Media, Lesbian & Gay Studies
- Roger Maioli dos Santos – 18th-century British literature, the rise of the novel, literature and ethics, the history of aesthetics, cultural and epistemic relativism
- Peter L. Rudnytsky – Freud Studies, History of Psychoanalysis, Shakespeare, Renaissance
- Phillip Wegner – 20th-Century American, British, & World Literatures; Marxism; Science Fiction; Utopias; Cultural Studies; Theory; Film & Media Studies
- Rae X. Yan – Victorian Literature and Culture, Literature and Science, Digital Humanities