MA Pathways

Everyone who does the Warwick MA must choose a pathway. We have a number of pathways through the degree:

1. Open Pathway

2. Critical Theory

3. Romantic and Victorian Pathway

4. Psychoanalysis Pathway

5. Shakespeare and the British Dramatic Tradition

6. Modern and Contemporary Pathway

In the Open Pathway, you select all modules yourself. If you choose to take one of the other pathways, you will follow a planned route through the MA which will allow you to concentrate on a specific area of interest to you. In these pathways, some modules are pre-selected (these are ‘core’ modules), and others are options you can choose yourself. Choosing which pathway you will follow depends upon your interests and on what kind of concentration on these you would like. Each pathway is explained in detail on page 9-12. Note that the Foundation module (i.e. Critical Theory Core module) is required regardless of which pathway you choose.

It should be noted that choosing a pathway does not affect the degree you are pursuing; no matter what the pathway, you are still working towards the MA in English Literature, and that is what it will say on your degree certificate. In fact, in my opinion, the best way of choosing a pathway is to choose the modules you really want to do and then see which pathway that ends up being.

All of the pathways below can be followed with or without a dissertation. For full guidance on variants and pathways see the MA in English handbook.

Romantic and Victorian Pathway

Foundation module (most often EN913 - Feminist Literary Theory or EN914 - Freud's Metapsychology and its Problems but students may choose any of the critical theory modules).

Plus at least two of the following: EN927 Condition of England: Perceptions in Victorian Literature; EN979 - Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Theatre (1737-1832); EN954 - Romantic Elegy; EN945 - Introduction to Pan Romanticisms; EN905 - Nineteenth-Century Children's Literature.

Students may choose further modules from across the department and/or faculty, and/or a dissertation.

Critical Theory Pathway

Foundation module: any of EN913 Feminist Literary Theory; EN914 - Freud's Metapsychology and its Problems; EN9A7 Drama and Performance Theory; EN942 World Literature and World Systems; EN938 - Postcolonial Theory.

And at least two modules chosen from the following:

EN913 Feminist Literary Theory; EN914 - Freud's Metapsychology and its Problems; EN9A7 Drama and Performance Theory; EN942 World Literature and World Systems; EN938 - Postcolonial Theory; EN943 - Critical Theory and Media Studies: The Frankfurt School and Others

Students may choose further modules from across the department and/or faculty, and/or a dissertation.

Psychoanalysis Pathway

Foundation module: EN914 - Freud's Metapsychology and its Problems.

Plus : EN959 - Modernism and Psychoanalysis; EN970 - Psychoanalysis and Creativity (please note that EN914 is a prerequisite for this course).

Students choose further modules from across the department and/or faculty, and/or a dissertation.

Shakespeare and the British Dramatic Tradition

Foundation module: EN9A7 Drama and Performance Theory

Plus at least two of the following: EN979 - Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Theatre (1737-1832); EN920 - Shakespeare in Performance; EN926 - The British Dramatist in Society: 1965-1995; IL903 - Practices of Translation: Or How to Do Things with Shakespeare

Students may choose further modules from across the department and/or faculty, and/or a dissertation.

Modern and Contemporary Pathway

Foundation module: any of EN913 Feminist Literary Theory; EN914 - Freud's Metapsychology and its Problems; EN942 World Literature and World Systems; EN938 - Postcolonial Theory.

Plus at least two of the following: EN926 The British Dramatist in Society: 1965-1995; EN959 Modernism and Psychoanalysis; EN943 Critical Theory and Media Studies: the Frankfurt School and Others; EN963 Resource Fictions: Studies in World Literature; EN988 - The Literature of the Asian Diaspora; EN9B2 - Infinite Modernisms: Pessoa, Kafka, Proust.

Students may choose further modules from across the department and/or faculty, and/or a dissertation.