Course: Survey of Literature in English

Co-ordinator: Jim Clark

A Survey of literature in English

This course will provide an overview of literature in English, from its earliest incarnation in the early Middle Ages to the present. Focusing on the dominant forms of literature in each era, the course will consider the form, content and historical context of literature as it has developed in English over the past six centuries.

Commencing with how English literature as we understand it originally arose out of ancient Anglo Saxon, the course will consider the historical development of literature in English from Chaucer onwards, with a special focus on the rise of the novel and Irish influence on English literature. Later lectures will consider how English literature has grown beyond Britain and Ireland to become global.

The course will equip students with an overview of literature in English, which can act as a springboard to further study of certain periods, authors or genres.

Course breakdown:

1.      Early English literature.

2.      The Elizabethan Renaissance.

3.      Shakespeare

4.      The Augustan Age and the Anglo-Irish

5.      The Nineteenth Century novel

6.      The Irish novel in English

7.      The American novel

8.      Postcolonial fiction

9.      Concepts of genre in fiction

10.    Postmodernist fiction

Please note that the format of most courses will change from time to time. Some courses may not be available to students in a particular year.

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