MAVictorian Literature, Art and Culture
| Study location | United Kingdom, Egham, Surrey |
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| Type | Master courses, full-time |
| Nominal duration | 1 year |
| Study language | English |
| Awards | MA |
| Entry qualification | Undergraduate diploma (or higher) Upper Second Class Honours degree (2:1); or equivalent The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English. Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original. |
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| Language requirements | English IELTS: 7.0 (with 7.0 in writing and no sub-score below 5.5 ) |
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| Other requirements | At least 2 reference(s) must be provided. Academic A motivation letter must be added to your application. Applicants may be asked to submit a sample of recent written work, such as two short essays or an extract from a dissertation. |
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| More information |
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Overview
Interested? To learn more about this study programme, entry requirements and application process, please contact one of our consultants in a country nearest to you.
Programme structure
Core modules
Methods and Materials of Research
This module is designed to introduce you to a number of key topics related to the methods of postgraduate research, and to some of the resources and materials that will be useful to your studies.
Aestheticism and Decadence in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
This module aims to provide an advanced understanding of the complex field of aestheticism in nineteenth-century literature and culture, with particular attention to concepts of ‘decadence’ and the relationship between the written word and the visual arts. Classes cover key theoretical and critical interventions into nineteenth-century aesthetic debates, from Ruskin and Pater through to Oscar Wilde and selected women writers of the 1880s and 1890s.
Victorian London
This module provides a point of coherence for the interdisciplinary study of Victorian Culture. You will be introduced to the theories and methods of a variety of humanities disciplines through the medium of an in-depth study of the literature, history, geography, and visual culture of nineteenth-century London. You will be asked to reflect critically on your own approach to the material studied, through engagement with both primary materials and a variety of recent secondary sources.
The Nineteenth-Century Novel – Contexts, Theories and Readers
This module aims to equip you with a systematic understanding of the scope and range of the mid nineteenth-century novel in the context of Victorian publishing, reading and critical practices. In the first half you will read three Dickens novels in depth, and while in the second half you will concentrates on theories of realism and the 19th Century novel. The module seeks to integrate reflections on recent critical approaches to the texts in order to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the critical techniques and discourses that will be applicable to your own advanced scholarship in the assessed essay and final dissertation.
The Pre-Raphaelite Revolution – Poetry and Painting
This module aims to equip you with a systematic understanding of the scope and range of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement in the context of Victorian art criticism, attitudes to gender and poetics. The first five-week block concentrates on poetry and the visual arts in the first decade of the movement; the second five-week block of the course deals with second generation of Pre-Raphaelites and their links with Aestheticism.
Disseration
This will be a piece of original written work, of between 12,000 and 15,000 words. The topic of the dissertation will be agreed between you and whichever member of staff is allotted as supervisor and is normally required to be submitted by the beginning of September in the year of the completion of the programme.
Career opportunities
The Department has an impressive record for placing graduates in academic jobs and in prominent position outside academia. In the field of Shakespeare and Renaissance studies alone, our postgraduates have recently secured positions at the Universities of Edinburgh, Sussex and Leeds, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the National University of Ireland. Recent postgraduates in America literature, modern and contemporary literature and theory have secured prestigious appointments in London.