When you begin your studies in September, you’ll receive much fuller details about the course content and structure. However, you may find it helpful to use the summer to make a start on some of your reading. On this page you can find a few suggestions for each of the three modules you’ll study in the first trimester.
The key text you need to buy is The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 11th edition, ed. Stephen Greenblatt (2024), 6 vols (A-C and D-F). The anthology is a great investment as we use it as a set text for many modules on the course, in first year and beyond. It’s important that you buy the right edition as many of the texts we want you to read aren’t included in the earlier editions.
We are very much looking forward to meeting you in September and to working with you. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email your Course Director Sarah Brown.
The first weeks of this module will focus on contemporary short fiction by writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Ali Smith and Zadie Smith. Many of the other texts we will study are taken from the Norton Anthology, Volumes D-F. Precise details will be confirmed nearer the time, but we would encourage you to explore the volume, following your own interests – you might aim to look at William Blake, Christina Rossetti or Carol Ann Duffy, for example.
You might also like to use the summer to read one of the longer works on the module – Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1817) We recommend the Norton Critical Edition by Susan Fraiman as this is good value and includes helpful notes.
In this module you will explore mythical narratives by Greek and Roman writers, a selection of key stories from the Bible, as well as both ancient and modern fairy tales. Nearly all the texts we use are in the public domain and good editions/translations can be accessed online. If you would like to make a start on your reading now, here are selected links:
You might also like to explore more recent responses to the myths – watch Patience Agbabi read her own poem about Actaeon.
This module brings together students studying both English Literature and Language and Communication, and is taught by tutors from both disciplines. You will explore the different components of language and learn more about topics such as narrative, ideology, publishing, advertising and metaphor, acquiring tools to help you analyse literary texts with more confidence, creativity and precision.
The set textbook for this module, an introduction to stylistics, will be available for you to read via the ARU library website, and there is no need to buy this in advance. Instead, here are a few links to sites which may help get you started on some of the many topics we will cover: