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World Literature (MA) (2024 Entry)

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Explore our World Literature taught Master's degree.

The World Literature MA at Warwick draws on the English and Comparative Literary Studies Department's renowned expertise in theoretically-driven world-literary and postcolonial studies to offer a course unique in the UK. Warwick’s English Department allows you to explore these areas while working with those at the cutting intellectual edge of world literary studies.


Course overview

The MA in World Literature at Warwick draws on our Department’s renowned expertise in theoretically-driven world-literary and postcolonial studies to offer a year-long course that is unique in the UK.

Considering your position as a future scholar and global citizen, this MA will immerse you in the study of writing and culture from across the globe. You will take a core module in the methodology and theory of world literature, choose from a range of modules that address issues in modern and contemporary world literature, and write a dissertation on an (approved) topic of your choice with a specialised supervisor.


General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

65% in an undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

Applicants may be required to provide a writing sample to demonstrate suitability for the course.


English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

  • Band C
  • IELTS overall score of 7.5, minimum component scores of two at 6.5/7.0 and the rest at 7.5 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.


Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Core modules

Fundamentals of World Literature

This module's working thesis is that the dominant models of post-war literary studies are no longer tenable and that the ‘linguistic turn’ of High Theory during the last quarter of the twentieth century was a compensatory gesture that delayed, but could not remove, the intrinsic crisis in comparative literary studies. The module also aims to suggest ways in which the current disjunction between cultural studies, modern languages, and postcolonialism can be coherently bridged through comparative analyses of a society's incorporation into the capitalist world-economy.

Dissertation

The Dissertation offers you the opportunity to pursue your own distinct research interests. You can develop any idea you’ve discovered in your modules or write on a completely new topic that has always fascinated you. Our students choose an array of topics within the broadly-conceived boundaries of ‘literary studies’, although we’ll discuss your plans with you to make sure an available member of our teaching staff can support your topic.

Students often use their MA dissertations as springboards to PhD projects and have sometimes gone on to publish parts of their work in scholarly journals.


Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

  • Petrofiction: Studies in World Literature
  • Narratives of American Empire
  • World Literature and the Anthropocene
  • Theory from the Margins: Postcolonialism and the Radical Tradition
  • Feminist Literary Theory

For more information, please visit the World Literature web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window

Teaching

The MA in World Literature comprises a Research Methods module, the core module, Fundamentals of World Literature, three further optional modules, and a Dissertation of 16,000 words. You can take one of your three optional modules from outside of the department, including from the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.

For more information, please visit the World Literature web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window


Class sizes

Seminars consist of 5 to 12 students.


Typical contact hours

Contact hours comprise 4 hours of seminars a week, 2 office hours per member of staff, weekly reading groups and research seminars, and one-to-one Dissertation supervision in terms 2 and 3.


Assessment

All essays are marked by two members of staff. The standard length for essays for modules on this course is 6,000 words; the Dissertation is 16,000 words. Marks are given out of 100.


Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your career

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for a range of employers, including: Deloitte; International Institute for Environment and Development; TeachFirst; The Times; V&A Museum; Yale University Press. They have pursued roles such as: arts officers, producers and directors; higher education teaching professionals; journalists, newspaper and periodical editors; management consultants and business analysts and marketing associate professionals.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

  • Understanding Assessment Centres
  • Careers following your English and Comparative Literary Studies Degree
  • Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
  • Careers in Publishing and Journalism
  • Freelancing
  • Careers in the Public Sector
  • Warwick careers fairs throughout the year

English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick

Founded in 1965, English and Comparative Literary Studies is one of the few comparative departments in the UK. We are in the top 5 English departments in the UK (Guardian University Guide, 2023); and one of the top 30 English departments in the world (QS World Subject Rankings, 2022). We are also ranked in the top 10 UK universities for research environment (2021 Research Excellence Framework); and 91% of our research is rated 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (Times Higher Education).

Our research is interdisciplinary, comparative, and dynamic; we also ensure that all our students study literature as a historical, global, aesthetic, and theoretical subject. Our strengths as a department include American studies, eighteenth and nineteenth-century studies, environmentalism and ecocriticism, theatre and performance, gender studies, the literary and cultural history of the medieval and early modern period, poetry and poetics, theology and literature, and World Literature. Our major research centres include Poetry at Warwick, and the Warwick Research Collective (WReC). We were also involved in establishing the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance in 1993, which brings together staff from five departments engaged in the study of Renaissance Europe, and which enjoys formal academic links with several institutions including the Warburg Institute, the Sorbonne, and with the University of Venice. We have close links with the Centre for Research into Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts, the Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century Centre, and the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies. We are actively involved in the EUTOPIA consortium and the Monash Warwick Alliance.

Find out more about us on our website.Link opens in a new window


Our Postgraduate courses

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees  


Fee Status Guidance

The University carries out an initial fee status assessment based on information provided in the application and according to the guidance published by UKCISA. Students are classified as either Home or Overseas Fee status and this can determine the tuition fee and eligibility of certain scholarships and financial support. 

If you receive an offer, your fee status will be stated with the tuition fee information. If you believe your fee status has been incorrectly classified you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire (follow the instructions in your offer) and provide the required documentation for this to be reassessed. 

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) provides guidance to UK universities on fees status criteria, you can find the latest guidance on the impact of Brexit on fees and student support on the UKCISA website.


Additional course costs

Please contact your academic department for information about department specific costs, which should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below, such as:

  • Core text books
  • Printer credits
  • Dissertation binding
  • Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships and financial support

Find out about the different funding routes available, including; postgraduate loans, scholarships, fee awards and academic department bursaries.

Living costs

Find out more about the cost of living as a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick.

Find out how to apply to us, ask your questions, and find out more.

How to apply

The application process for courses that start in September and October 2024 will open on 2 October 2023.

Applications will close on 2 August 2024 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

How to apply for a postgraduate taught course  

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See Warwick’s postgraduate admissions policy.

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