Study in a friendly department where you’ll get to know the staff and students, but that’s large enough to offer you a wide range of courses and specialisms Undergraduate English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths 2 www.gold.ac.uk/english *******  Choose from eight undergraduate programmes  Speak to your personal tutor throughout your studies and get advice and feedback on your work  Keep up with current debates through the Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre  Make use of the Goldsmiths and University of London libraries, including Senate House Key features ECL at Goldsmiths Visit www.gold.ac.uk/ug/english for full details of our degrees 3 Cervantes. Bukowski. Dostoevsky. At Goldsmiths, English and Comparative Literature is critical and creative. From classical literature and linguistics, to creative writing and contemporary fiction, we combine a core of modern specialisms with coverage of literature that goes from the 14th to the 21st century, so you can do a traditional English degree with us or a more comparative or creative one. As a department we’re interested in a field of enquiry that extends from Old English literature to newly published writing in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. There are opportunities to learn about film, theatre, and visual arts, in addition to studying literature and language. As a result, you can study texts and films across a variety of periods and genres. And, because we have specialists in areas such as American and Caribbean literature, you’ll get the chance to delve into subjects you can’t explore elsewhere. Whether you want to become an award-winning writer or apply your studies to another career, you’ll leave with a University of London degree that’s as rigorous as it is respected. Why choose English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths? We’re engaged. As a student here you can get involved in a cultural sphere beyond your studies. Stay in touch with current debates through our dedicated Writers’ Centre, the Goldsmiths Prize for boldly original fiction, and our popular speaker series, which has featured guests including Doris Lessing, Alan Bennett, Ian McEwan and Sharon Olds. We’re nurturing. We may be one of the largest departments in Goldsmiths but that doesn’t mean you won’t get personal support. Take advantage of our personal tutor system, learn from an approachable team of academic staff and become part of the student-run English Society. We’re vibrant. As one of the first departments in the UK to offer creative writing, you’ll learn from renowned contemporary writers and be part of a hub of literary excellence – our graduates have gone on to win prestigious awards from the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature to the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. 4 www.gold.ac.uk/english ******* Watch our film at vimeo.com/ goldsmiths/ english If you want to boost your academic profile and progress to the BA English degree: Integrated Degree in English (including Foundation Year) 1 year full-time (Foundation) followed by 3 years full-time (undergraduate degree) www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ integrated-degree-english This is a four-year degree at Goldsmiths. The foundation year takes an overview approach to literary history, and includes components in Renaissance studies, 18th- century literature, Victorian literature and modernism. Novels, plays and poetry will be studied, and a variety of approaches to literary criticism are discussed and critically assessed. You also learn study skills, and critically evaluate your own work in individual tutorials. If you successfully achieve the progression requirements of the foundation year, you can continue with the full-time three-year BA (Hons) English. Visit www.gold.ac.uk/ug/english for full details of our degrees 5 Our degrees BA (Hons) English 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ba-english Our English degree gives you the opportunity to develop the critical and verbal skills needed for a confident, effective reading of literary and non-literary texts. It develops your core skills in analytical and imaginative reading and writing, and is structured to give you a broad foundation in literary and cultural studies, as well as the opportunity to study the topics that really interest you. Course options offer an historical view of writing in English, and let you specialise in areas including thematic and genre-based approaches to literature, comparative analysis, and literary theory. Our staff have diverse cultural backgrounds and research areas, so are ideally placed to offer you insights as you develop your own interests in American, British, European, Irish, Caribbean or other literatures in English. BA (Hons) English & American Literature 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ ba-english-american-literature This dedicated degree gives you the opportunity to read across a varied range of literary and critical works from both sides of the Atlantic. You’ll be able to examine American literary and cultural contexts, the formation of an American literary aesthetic from Puritan times to the present day, and the critical concepts and ideologies that shape the American nation. You will cultivate an understanding of the main cultural, historical and political concepts underpinning America and its literatures, and be introduced to selected works spanning literary history from Homer to the present day. Our graduates have an excellent employment record – 100% of last year’s graduates were in work or further study six months after finishing the degree. BA (Hons) English & Comparative Literature 3 years full-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ ba-english-comparative-literature Enabling you to study literature and culture across linguistic and national boundaries, this degree offers you the opportunity to read a generous range of works within a comparative context. Over the course of the three years you’ll read and discuss works spanning literary culture from Homer to the present day. You will be introduced to the study of themes, genres and movements across national literatures, and the relationship between literature and other disciplines. You will have the opportunity to look at the arts during three major periods – the Baroque, Romanticism and modernism, and examine cross-national influences in a variety of genres and media. BA (Hons) English with Creative Writing 3 years full-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ ba-english-creative-writing This prestigious degree promotes your intellectual curiosity and creativity by combining the study of English literature with the practice of creative writing. It will develop your analytical and critical abilities as well as your imaginative skills. You will study compulsory and option courses from a wide range offered, while each year taking a creative writing course. These creative writing workshops specialise in prose fiction or poetry, and are designed to develop your knowledge while laying the foundations of your writing practice. They are taught by practitioners and active researchers, so you will have access to experts and you will be interacting within a community of writers who will be supporting the development of your work. 6 www.gold.ac.uk/english ******* BA (Hons) English & Drama/Drama & English 3 years full-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ba-english-drama This degree brings insights from a range of perspectives to develop your analytical and imaginative skills. You’ll develop an awareness of literary-historical contexts and of relationships between theatrical texts and other literary genres. It can be studied through two pathways: Drama or English, depending on which you decide will be your main focus. These pathways diverge at the end of the second year, so for the first two years of the degree all students have a similar choice of courses. In your first year, literature courses focus on poetry, the literature of the Victorian period and classic texts from Homer to Margaret Atwood. You also study theatre history, performance theory and approaches to production. The second and third years offer greater flexibility, with an excitingly varied choice of literature and drama courses. BA (Hons) English & History 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ba-english-history This degree familiarises you with thematic and genre-based approaches to literature, verbal analysis and literary theory. Throughout the degree you will be introduced to the skills of the historian, encouraging you to analyse societies and their structures in a way that will inform and complement your literary studies. You’ll also have the opportunity to apply your academic skills within the workplace, through our History at Work scheme. Our staff come from a variety of cultural backgrounds and, with their diverse research specialities, they’ll be able to help you develop your own interests. Interdisciplinary courses draw together standard historical sources with literature, film, and the visual arts, and help you develop a wide range of skills that are attractive to employers. BA (Hons) English Language & Literature* 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ ba-english-language-literature This degree, new for 2013, will give you an in-depth understanding of the English language based on critical study and analysis of a wide range of literary and non-literary genres, including print and digital media. You will become familiar with historical, geographical, socio-cultural and situational language variation, and develop a critical understanding of how language can be used as a resource to project identities and to shape representations of reality. At the same time, the programme offers a broad foundation in literary studies, including thematic and genre-based approaches to literature, comparative analysis, and literary theory. *New programme: subject to validation BA (Hons) Media & English 3 years full-time www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ba-media-english This degree allows you to explore critical perspectives in literature and media alongside each other while developing your skills in creative writing (script and short story) and editing. The degree will stimulate and develop your critical faculties and at the same time help you improve as a creative writer (film, tv, radio, print and new media). You’ll follow thematic and research interests that bear on your own original writing, and be taught by leading scholars and researchers in Media and Communications, and English and Comparative Literature. The creative writing course each year, which is taught by working screenwriters, fiction writers, radio dramatists and editors, will develop your script and prose editorial skills, and you will graduate with a portfolio of creative writing project work. Our degrees continued Visit www.gold.ac.uk/ug/english for full details of our degrees 7 Your future: skills and careers A degree in English opens up a wide range of careers by developing critical and analytical skills, proficiency in assessing evidence, the clear expression of ideas, and the ability to bring together insights from a range of subjects. You also learn to solve problems, to think creatively, and to communicate with clarity – all of which are attractive to a variety of employers. According to data collated by Unistats, the definitive UK university guide and part of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Goldsmiths’ English undergraduate students go on to attain the highest-paid jobs of English graduates in the UK. Where do ECL graduates work? English graduates go on to work in a very varied selection of careers, including: • Journalism • Editing • Writing • Advertising • Marketing and public relations • Teaching (schools and higher education) • Events management • Information management • Archivism How Goldsmiths equips you for the world of work Everything we do at Goldsmiths is committed to preparing our students for life beyond study. You’ll develop independent thinking and real-world skills, which employers are looking for when recruiting graduates. And we nurture creative talent and dynamic thought, and a commitment to being at the forefront of your chosen field, whatever that may be. Our Careers Service offers support, guidance and practical advice on how to take your first steps to finding a job and having the career you want. . Graduate insight Ben, graduated in 2008 with a BA in English & Drama “Every university is formative but not all are supportive. Goldsmiths is. I directed my first play in my third year and it was only through Goldsmiths awards and fellow students that I was able to this. Since then, I’ve written and directed many different things but I wouldn’t have were it not for the confidence, skills, and people that Goldsmiths gave me. This year, I’ve written opera for the Welsh National Opera. I never thought I’d write opera but Goldsmiths challenged me to try new things and, through a combination of perseverance and luck I was asked to work for the Welsh National Opera as a writer-in-residence.” Contact us See www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ english for full details of our degrees. If you need more information, please email course-info@gold.ac.uk To find out more about us, go to www.gold.ac.uk/ecl or email english@gold.ac.uk Student insight Alex “I could probably only describe the atmosphere here to be a fusion of eccentricity and libertarian expression. If you want to be an individual then there is nowhere that will encourage you more. When I looked at my course it appeared to endorse this notion of diversity and has given me a freedom to choose what I learn. Goldsmiths is as beguiling as the people that come here.” © 2013. Printed on 100% recycled paper . (Hons) English. Visit www.gold.ac.uk /ug /english for full details of our degrees 5 Our degrees BA (Hons) English 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time www.gold.ac.uk /ug/ ba -english Our English. development of your work. 6 www.gold.ac.uk /english ******* BA (Hons) English & Drama/Drama & English 3 years full-time www.gold.ac.uk /ug/ ba -english- drama This degree brings insights from. Irish, Caribbean or other literatures in English. BA (Hons) English & American Literature 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time www.gold.ac.uk /ug/ ba -english- american-literature This dedicated