Overview
Whether your interests lie in the postcolonial world or you have a fascination with women's writing or contemporary gothic literature, this challenging course will allow you to study recent volumes of poetry, research cultures and explore novels and films relating to current debates. You will use key theoretical models and concepts to gain a greater understanding of how we study literature and the motivations and historical events that have driven the authors you choose to read.
Taught by a team with an international reputation for their research in diverse areas, ranging from Caribbean culture, history and literature to cultural representations of the 2007-08 credit crunch across literature, stage and screen, this course will expose you to new ideas and will encourage you to question them.
Check out our twitter feed @BeckettEnglish for up-to-date information on staff and student events, short courses and fun happenings around the school.
Research Excellence Framework 2014
Research Excellence Framework 2014: 38% of our research was judged to be world leading or internationally excellent in the Communication, Culture and Media Studies, Library and Information Management unit.
Find out more about the School of Cultural Studies & Humanities.
You will learn how to use a range of cutting-edge theoretical approaches to texts, while you will be able to draw upon the course team's research and teaching strengths in contemporary women's writing, postcolonialism and popular fiction.
You will acquire a well-informed, critical understanding of current developments, questions and critical issues in the field of contemporary literatures and develop the transferable skills needed to undertake independent research into contemporary literatures and associated criticism and theory.
Entry Requirements
Mature Applicants
Our University welcomes applications from mature applicants who demonstrate academic potential. We usually require some evidence of recent academic study, for example completion of an access course, however recent relevant work experience may also be considered. Please note that for some of our professional courses all applicants will need to meet the specified entry criteria and in these cases work experience cannot be considered in lieu.If you wish to apply through this route you should refer to our University Recognition of Prior Learning policy that is available on our website.
Please note that all applicants to our University are required to meet our standard English language requirement of GCSE grade C or equivalent, variations to this will be listed on the individual course entry requirements.
Verify your qualifications
If you are an international student, we can help you to compare and verify your qualifications. Please contact our International Office on +44 (0)113 812 1111 09.00 to 17.00 Mon-Thurs / 09.00 to 16.30 Fri GMT or email internationaloffice@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.Need to improve your English Language skills?
Don't worry if you don't have the level of English required for your chosen course. We offer a wide range of courses which have been designed to help you to improve your qualifications and English language ability, most of which are accredited by the British Council. Check your English and find out more about our English courses.More questions?
No matter what your questions, we are here to answer them, visit our International website to get more information and find out about our online open days.Careers
Careers
MA English: Contemporary Literature
“Reading has always been a passion of mine - I loved studying English at school and at degree level, so doing a postgraduate course seemed like a natural progression. I loved the detailed analysis of texts and the dynamic and lively debates we had - this is something I've carried over into my own teaching and I hope to ignite the same passion in my students that I have for the subject.
Modules & learning
- Researching Cultures
Is an interdisciplinary research methods module, taught with students on other Masters programmes. It prepares students for their dissertation, and equips them with research skills and strategies necessary if they intend to progress to PhD.
- Dissertation
Presents the opportunity for students to synthesize the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the course and to write a substantial piece of supervised research, in the guise of a 15,000-word masters dissertation.
- Doris Lessing: Narrating Nation & Identity
Explore a selection of the extensive body of work produced during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries by the Nobel Prize-winning writer, Doris Lessing.
- Contemporary Genre: (Re)Presenting the 21st Century
Examine contemporary genres with an emphasis on their innovations and socio-cultural developments.
- Haunting the Contemporary: the Ghost Story in 20th & 21st Century Fiction
Discover the contemporary field of haunted narratives and consider them in relation to a variety of theoretical approaches, primarily the work of Jacques Derrida.
- Post-Structuralist Theory: Foucault & Derrida
Develop a deeper awareness and more sophisticated understanding of two theorists who have been of fundamental importance to debates in literary studies in the twentieth century: Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida.
- Neoliberal Fictions
You will focus on the 1990s and 2000s - including the US-led globalisation project, the spread of global markets, the dotcom crash, 9/11 attacks on America and the bursting of the housing bubble.
- Other Victorians: The Neo-Victorian Contemporary Novel
You will use pastiches, rewritings and parodies of the 19th-Century novel to consider how we are 'other Victorians' and the role of the 'other' in Victorian society.
- The New Yorkshire Novel
Study a range of novels that investigate questions of race, class, politics, social and cultural history, landscape, the urban-rural divide, and migration as it is experienced in different parts of Yorkshire.
- Contemporary Gothic
Examine the relevance of the Gothic today by studying contemporary Gothic texts. You will engage not only with novels but with Gothic-influenced US TV drama, South-East Asian vampire films, and Latin American horror.
- Poetry & Poetics
Analyse volumes of recently published poetry (2009-12) and consider them alongside a range of influential contemporary statements on the genre including pieces by Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida.
- Translating Tricksters: Literatures of the Black Atlantic
Explore postcolonial writing in the form of short stories, novels and poetry, and unpick the ways writers use religion and folklore to define their identity and resist the legacy of western imperialism.
- India Shining: Secularism, Globalization, & Contemporary Indian Culture
Discover the diverse and challenging selection of literary and visual texts offered by modern postcolonial India and explore the different conceptual and political approaches taken by writers and film-makers.
- *These modules rotate on an annual basis. Not all modules listed may be available in your year of entry.
Andrew Cooper is Dean of Cultural Studies and Humanities. He joined our University in September 2015, and in addition to his duties as Dean also teaches and researches in the area of English language and literature.
We are proud of how we bring research into the public domain through participation in regional events, as well as making a distinctive contribution to the intellectual life of the city through the Leeds Cultural Conversations series organised by our Centre for Culture & the Arts. We welcome you to join us to explore the latest thinking in our disciplines, become part of our regional, national and international networks, and add your voice to debates shaping the future of cultural studies and humanities.
Postgraduate Study - Invest in yourself
Fees & funding
Additional information
For further information on financing your studies or information about whether you may qualify for one of our bursaries and scholarships, follow the links below:
Facilities
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Broadcasting PlaceOfficially one of the world’s best tall buildings and a big talking point in Leeds, Broadcasting Place is home to our cultural studies and humanities courses. It offers a space for students to join an academic community that plays an active role in shaping contemporary debates about the future direction of those disciplines.
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Online resources and collectionsWhether you want to analyse accounts of 17th-century criminal proceedings from the Old Bailey, sift through more than 355,000 works of English and American poetry, prose and drama or explore the world's largest archive of 20th-century popular culture, our Library's online resources provide easy access to a range of diverse collections.
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LibraryOur Library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year, providing you with access to specialist books and journals, learning spaces, computers, multimedia facilities and media equipment hire. Tens of thousands of our Library's digital resources, including ebooks, ejournals and databases, can be accessed online at a time and place to suit you.
Map
Broadcasting Place, City Campus
Broadcasting place is officially one of the world's best tall buildings (voted the world's 'Best Tall Building' in 2010 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) and is a big talking point in Leeds. Home to our arts, design, architecture and built environment courses, it provides students with creative and contemporary learning environments, is packed with the latest technology and is a focal point for new and innovative thinking in the city.
