English/English and Film Studies
/English and Creative Writing

Our methods aim to be both lively and innovative. Consequently, English has received the highest ratings for Teaching Quality Assessment. We employ a wide range of methods, from lectures and film screenings to small-group teaching.

The learning experience of Dundee's English students is greatly enhanced by the research expertise and passion each of our English lecturers bring to the classroom. Indeed, many staff members are leading figures in their field. For example, Professor Peter Kitson is both President of the English Association and the British Association of Romantic Studies. Also, Dr David Robb recently won the Scottish Academic Book of the Year prize for his study of the poet, Alexander Scott.

Dundee has had a long tradition in supporting creative writing; former creative writing fellows have included John Burnside, Don Paterson, Collette Bryce and Tracey Herd. English's new chair in Creative Writing is the award winning novelist, Kirsty Gunn. She is the author of four novels, a collection of short stories and a collection of fiction, essays and poetry. She is the recipient of several awards and prizes including the prestigious Scottish Arts Council Bursary for Writing; her work has been widely anthologised and broadcast, and translated into ten languages.

All staff profiles »

Honours Degree

An honours degree normally takes four years, full time, you study levels 1-4, as described below.

Advanced Entry Honours Degree

It is possible to study for most of our honours degrees in three years if you have the required grades and subjects as listed in the Entry Requirements section. You study levels 2-4 below. There are definite advantages to considering this route as the time needed to study is reduced by one year which enables you to start working and earning earlier.

Typical Degree Programme

Visit the MA overview page for general information on our MA degree programme.

Level 1

Level 1 English modules give you a basic critical and theoretical understanding by analysing a wide range of examples of literature (or literature and film), from the earliest available texts to the present day.

For a degree in MA English, you study a total of 6 modules including the following core modules:

Introduction to Literary Study: EN11001
Semester 1, 20 credits
What makes a novel a novel? What is distinctive about poetry? How do you analyse a play in performance? The course explores a diverse range of drama, fiction and poetry in order to suggest answers to these questions.

Early Modern to Early Romantic Literature, 1564 - 1789: EN11006
Semester 2, 20 credits
This module surveys the development of English Literature from the Early Modern period to the end of the Eighteenth century in relation to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the emergence of modern culture, with its concerns about identity, gender, religion, and power. This module will explore Early Modern drama, including texts by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow, John Webster; metaphysical poetry including work by John Donne, Andrew Marvel, John Milton and the rise of the novel form, including work by Daniel Defoe or Samuel Richardson.

Plus 4 other MA modules.

Level 2

Level 2 applies the knowledge gained at Level 1 to particular aspects of literary or film history, surveying texts from key genres and periods.

For a degree in MA English, you study a total of 6 modules including the following core modules:

Romantic to Victorian Literature, 1789 - 1901: EN22002
Semester 1, 20 credits
The module explores Romantic and Victorian Literature paying particular attention to the way fiction, poetry and drama develops out of earlier traditions and tendencies and how they break from earlier movements. The work of the Romantic poets is read along with a series of nineteenth-century texts which link closely with the themes and moods of the poetry. Some of these texts will bring out the powerful strand of Gothic Romanticism which is the counterweight to the social realism of the Victorian novel. Poets such as John Keats, Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Alfred Tennyson, novelists such as Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson and playwrights such as Oscar Wilde will be included.

Modernist to Contemporary Literature, 1901 - Present Day: EN21004
Semester 2, 20 credits
This module examines 20th and 21st century writing, paying particular attention to the way fiction, poetry and drama develops out of earlier traditions and tendencies and how they break from earlier movements. It examines how the forces of modernity - industrialisation, urbanisation, technological changes, war, empire, migration challenges previous ways of structuring and making sense of the world through a range of 20th and 21st century texts including fiction by Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Chinua Achebe, Angela Carter, Richard Matheson, Kirsty Gunn and Ian Rankin, poetry by TS Eliot, WB Yeats, Mina Loy, WH Auden, Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, Philip Larkin, Carol Ann Duffy and Margaret Atwood, and drama by Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill and Samuel Beckett.

Plus 4 other MA modules.

Level 3

At Level 3, you begin your detailed study of specific genres, styles and themes and periods choosing from a wide range of options.

You study a total of 4 modules (2 modules for joint Honours). Modules currently on offer include:

• EN32009 - Contemporary Literature (Sem 1)
• EN31013 - European Cinema Since 1960 (Sem 1)
• EN32021 - Introduction to Creative Writing Practice (Sem 1)
• EN32003 - Mediaeval Literature (Sem 1)
• EN32005 - Modernism and Modernity (Sem 1)
• EN31006 - Other Americas (Sem 1)
• EN31011 - Post-Colonial Texts (Sem 1)
• EN31007 - Romantic and Gothic Literature (Sem 1)
• EN32001 - American Literature (Sem 2)
• EN32020 - Film Art (Sem 2)
• EN32002 - Scottish Literature (Sem 2)
• EN32011 - Shakespeare (Sem 2)
• EN32008 - Victorian Literature (Sem 2)
• EN32006 - Vision in Film, Literature and Culture (Sem 2)
• EN32010 - Writing as Making: Poetics and Creativity (Sem 2)

Level 4

At Level 4, the modules on offer reflect the research specialisms of members of staff. The result is an extremely varied range of choices, often based on interdisciplinary topics using a wide range of approaches. These modules will continue your in-depth studies and you will also have the option to carry out a personal research project in the form of a dissertation.

You study a total of 4 modules (2 modules for joint Honours). Modules currently on offer include:

• EN41002 - Old English (Sem 1)
• EN41011 - Dissertation (Year-Long)
• EN41015 - Crime and Detection in American Fiction (Sem 2)
• EN41016 - H.G. Wells, Science Fiction and Film (Sem 2)
• EN42004 - The Literature of Terror: British and American Gothic Writing (Sem 1)
• EN41013 - Re-Imagining Britain: Literature after the End of Empire (Sem 1)
• EN42010 - American Modernist Poetry: An Introduction (Sem 1)
• EN41021 - Making Writing Matter (Sem 2)
• EN42020 - Epics, Exiles and Nostalgia: the Films of Michael Powell, Andrei Tarkovsky and Akira Kurosawa (Sem 1)
• EN41022 - Mediaevalism at the Movies (Sem 2)
• EN41023 - Digital Poetry (Sem 2)
• EN41024 - Contemporary British Writers of Comics and Graphic Novels (Sem 1)
• EN41025 Image, Text and Performance (Sem 1)
• EN42008 - The Novels of Virginia Woolf: Modernism and Feminism (Sem 2)
• HY42050 - History of the Book 1500-1800 (Sem 2)

Honours Degree

An honours degree normally takes four years, full time, you study levels 1-4, as described below.

Advanced Entry Honours Degree

It is possible to study for most of our honours degrees in three years if you have the required grades and subjects as listed in the Entry Requirements section. You study levels 2-4 below. There are definite advantages to considering this route as the time needed to study is reduced by one year which enables you to start working and earning earlier.

Typical Degree Programme

Visit the MA overview page for general information on our MA degree programme.

Level 1

Level 1 modules give you a basic critical and theoretical understanding by analysing a wide range of examples of literature (or literature and film), from the earliest available texts to the present day.

You study a total of 6 modules, including:

Introduction to Literary Study: EN11001
Semester 1, 20 credits
What makes a novel a novel? What is distinctive about poetry? How do you analyse a play in performance? The course explores a diverse range of drama, fiction and poetry in order to suggest answers to these questions.

Early Modern to Early Romantic Literature, 1564 - 1789: EN11006
Semester 2, 20 credits
This module surveys the development of English Literature from the Early Modern period to the end of the Eighteenth century in relation to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the emergence of modern culture, with its concerns about identity, gender, religion, and power. This module will explore Early Modern drama, including texts by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow, John Webster; metaphysical poetry including work by John Donne, Andrew Marvel, John Milton and the rise of the novel form, including work by Daniel Defoe or Samuel Richardson.

Level 2

Level 2 applies the knowledge gained at Level 1 to particular aspects of literary or film history, surveying texts from key genres and periods.

You study a total of 6 modules, including:

Romantic to Victorian Literature, 1789 - 1901: EN22002
Semester 1, 20 credits
The module explores Romantic and Victorian Literature paying particular attention to the way fiction, poetry and drama develops out of earlier traditions and tendencies and how they break from earlier movements. The work of the Romantic poets is read along with a series of nineteenth-century texts which link closely with the themes and moods of the poetry. Some of these texts will bring out the powerful strand of Gothic Romanticism which is the counterweight to the social realism of the Victorian novel. Poets such as John Keats, Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Alfred Tennyson, novelists such as Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson and playwrights such as Oscar Wilde will be included.

Modernist to Contemporary Literature, 1901 - Present Day: EN21004
Semester 2, 20 credits
This module examines 20th and 21st century writing, paying particular attention to the way fiction, poetry and drama develops out of earlier traditions and tendencies and how they break from earlier movements. It examines how the forces of modernity - industrialisation, urbanisation, technological changes, war, empire, migration challenges previous ways of structuring and making sense of the world through a range of 20th and 21st century texts including fiction by Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Chinua Achebe, Angela Carter, Richard Matheson, Kirsty Gunn and Ian Rankin, poetry by TS Eliot, WB Yeats, Mina Loy, WH Auden, Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, Philip Larkin, Carol Ann Duffy and Margaret Atwood, and drama by Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill and Samuel Beckett.

Level 3

• EN32021 - Introduction to Creative Writing Practice (Sem 1)
• EN32010 - Writing as Making: Poetics and Creativity (Sem 2)

Other modules currently on offer include:

• EN32009 - Contemporary Literature (Sem 1)
• EN31013 - European Cinema Since 1960 (Sem 1)
• EN32021 - Introduction to Creative Writing Practice (Sem 1)
• EN32003 - Mediaeval Literature (Sem 1)
• EN32005 - Modernism and Modernity (Sem 1)
• EN31006 - Other Americas (Sem 1)
• EN31011 - Post-Colonial Texts (Sem 1)
• EN31007 - Romantic and Gothic Literature (Sem 1)
• EN32001 - American Literature (Sem 2)
• EN32020 - Film Art (Sem 2)
• EN32002 - Scottish Literature (Sem 2)
• EN32011 - Shakespeare (Sem 2)
• EN32008 - Victorian Literature (Sem 2)
• EN32006 - Vision in Film, Literature and Culture (Sem 2)
• EN32010 - Writing as Making: Poetics and Creativity (Sem 2)

Level 4

At Level 4, the modules on offer reflect the research specialisms of members of staff. The result is an extremely varied range of choices, often based on interdisciplinary topics using a wide range of approaches. These modules will continue your in-depth studies and you will also have the option to carry out a personal research project in the form of a dissertation.

You study a total of 4 modules, including 1 creative writing module, "Making Writing Matter".

Modules currently on offer include:

• EN41002 - Old English (Sem 1)
• EN41011 - Dissertation (Year-Long)
• EN41015 - Crime and Detection in American Fiction (Sem 2)
• EN41016 - H.G. Wells, Science Fiction and Film (Sem 2)
• EN42004 - The Literature of Terror: British and American Gothic Writing (Sem 1)
• EN41013 - Re-Imagining Britain: Literature after the End of Empire (Sem 1)
• EN42010 - American Modernist Poetry: An Introduction (Sem 1)
• EN41021 - Making Writing Matter (Sem 2)
• EN42020 - Epics, Exiles and Nostalgia: the Films of Michael Powell, Andrei Tarkovsky and Akira Kurosawa (Sem 1)
• EN41022 - Mediaevalism at the Movies (Sem 2)
• EN41023 - Digital Poetry (Sem 2)
• EN41024 - Contemporary British Writers of Comics and Graphic Novels (Sem 1)
• EN41025 Image, Text and Performance (Sem 1)
• EN42008 - The Novels of Virginia Woolf: Modernism and Feminism (Sem 2)
• HY42050 - History of the Book 1500-1800 (Sem 2)

Level 1

Reading the Screen: An Introduction to Film Studies: EN11003
Semester 1, 20 credits
This module will focus on how films are created, concentrating on topics such as mise en scene, editing, auteur theory, genre and the styles of key Directors.

Perspectives and Movements in Cinema: EN12005
Semester 2, 20 credits
This module builds on Reading the Screen by focusing on examples from a number of distinct movements in the history of the cinema, such as Italian Neo-realism, the French New Wave, Japanese cinema of the 1950s, and British Cinema of the 1940s.

Level 2

Classic Hollywood Cinema - An Excessively Obvious Cinema: EN21003
Semester 1, 20 credits
The aims of this module are: to introduce students to a distinct period of cinematic history (1930-60s) which dominated Hollywood production. To expand students awareness of issues of genre, film history, and the relationship between film and American society. To highlight a cinema of motivated signs and examine the ideological outcome of "verisimilitude", expressionism, and propaganda film-making. To engage with character led plots and psychologically motivated narratives and examine the narrative and cinematic strategies employed in their development to examine the tradition of narrative closure and its impact on the dominant ideology and cinematic aesthetic of the time.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Street: EN22004
Semester 2, 20 credits
The aim of this module is to provide an introduction to what is arguably the most interesting and important of all film styles - Film Noir. It will analyse the distinct visual style and aesthetics of Film Noir and will explore the cultural climate of repression and paranoia engendered by Cold War politics and its influence on this style of film-making. Of central importance will be the influence of German Expressionism and émigré film makers, and issues of representation, especially of women and stereotypes.

Level 3

• Film Art
• European Cinema since 1960
• Vision in Film, Literature and Culture

Level 4

• Epics, Exile and Nostalgia: The Films of Kurosawa, Powell and Tarkovsky
• Mediaevalism at the Movies
• H.G. Wells, Science Fiction and Film

Coursework can consist of essays, or oral introductions in seminars, or a course diary, or a quiz, or a number of other possibilities. The formal examinations are either two hours long, or three. Several of our courses make no use of a formal exam; no course is assessed by formal examination alone. The weightings given to examinations and coursework vary from course to course.