- UCAS course code
- Q320
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA English Literature
Explore traditional English literature alongside post-colonial literatures, cultural theory, creative writing, and film.
- Typical A-level offer: AAA including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: ABB including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: ABC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 36 points overall with 6,6,6 at HL including specific subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
- Find out more from student finance
- Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
- Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
- Many students work part-time or complete a student internship
Course unit details:
Love American Style
Unit code | AMER30162 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 3 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
This class explores the discourses of love, romance, the couple, marriage, loneliness, friendship, gender ,sexuality, race, ethnicity, and nationality in American culture from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. In interrogating a wide range of American texts we will focus not only on representations of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality, but also on the development of discourses of love, desire, and their intersections with ideologies of Americanness. Finally, we will also look at how constructions of race and ethnicity influence gender and sexuality, and how changing representations of mixed-race, crossed-class, and same-sex unions contribute to the meaning of American national identity.
Love American Style, a 'comedic television anthology' that ran for four seasons starting in 1969, was a light, slick, and pretty misogynistic and racist look at love, romance, and human emotions and relationships in America. Its title (and perhaps its opening credits and theme music) will set the premise for how we interrogate the ways America tells the story of love to itself through low, medium, and high culture. Through this interrogation we might find the underlying assumptions and constructions of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class - and indeed assumptions about national identity and its concomitant cultural, political, and personal aspirations
Aims
- To introduce students to the major themes of love, anomie, and nationality in American literature, film, and other media (e.g. television), particularly in the late twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first;
- To develop students' critical awareness by encouraging them to attend to the language, themes, narratives, and political elements of the literary works we study;
- To develop students' awareness of cultural, historical, and theoretical concerns relating to the concepts of gender, race, marriage, desire, sexuality, and nationality that are particular to the United States;
- To encourage and develop students' research, presentation, and writing skills and their capacity to construct a sustained and coherent argument.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course students should display:
Knowledge and understanding of the social, ideological, and political issues and themes regarding love, marriage, intimacy, desire, nation, race, sex, and sexuality, as expressed through works of U.S. cultural representation from the mid twentieth century to the present day;
Ability to understand and theorize ideological constructions of, as well as intersections between, race, gender, sexual identity, desire, and nationality in historically specific contexts;
Ability (in the assessed essay and oral presentation) to construct a sustained and cohesive written argument and to deploy scholarly methods of presentation.
Ability to analyze texts, speak in front of groups, make connections to present-day concerns, engage critically with primary material; improved writing; self confidence in abilities.
Teaching and learning methods
Weekly 3-hour seminars will focus substantially on class discussion and may include student presentations, feedback about essays, journal writing and discussion, short video screenings and discussion, or other activities.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- Students taking this unit will be able to analyse and evaluate arguments and texts. Above all, committed students will emerge from this course unit with an advanced capacity to think critically, i.e. knowledgeably, rigorously, confidently and independently.
- Group/team working
- Students taking this unit will be able to work courteously and constructively as part of a larger group.
- Innovation/creativity
- On this unit students are encouraged to respond imaginatively and independently to the questions and ideas raised by texts and other media.
- Leadership
- Students on this unit must take responsibility for their learning and are encouraged not only to participate in group discussions but to do so actively and even to lead those discussions.
- Project management
- Students taking this unit will be able to work towards deadlines and to manage their time effectively.
- Oral communication
- Students taking this unit will be able to show fluency, clarity and persuasiveness in spoken communication.
- Research
- Students on this unit will be required to digest, summarise and present large amounts of information. They are encouraged to enrich their responses and arguments with a wide range of further reading.
- Written communication
- Students on this unit will develop their ability to write in a way that is lucid, precise and compelling.
Assessment methods
Essay (70%)
Journal Essay (30%)
Recommended reading
Over the summer students should read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (any edition) in preparation for the beginning of term.
Readings might also include:
Kristen Roupenian, “Cat Person” (2017)
Carmen Maria Machado, “The Husband Stitch” (2017)
James Baldwin, Another Country (1962) Book 1
Marilyn French, The Women’s Room (1977) Part I
Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Carol Anshaw, Aquamarine (1992)
Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation (2014)
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Seminars | 33 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Monica Pearl | Unit coordinator |