Keele’s programme was a national first in the UK in 2001, and is no widely recognised as the leading course of its type in the country. Combining the distinctive strengths of English and American Studies, this course explores the contrasts and connections between two major national literary traditions. You’ll develop your critical arguments and technical analysis as you engage imaginatively and intellectually with literary texts from medieval literature to contemporary American graphic novels. You’ll examine the full chronological range of English and American literature, considering their direct intersections from the nineteenth century onwards. You could spend a semester or a whole additional year at a partner university abroad – which might include the USA, Australia, the Netherlands or Canada.

English and American Literatures at Keele will provide you with a wide range of skills with real appeal to employers. Some careers may require further study or training, but you might work as a teacher, journalist, editor, librarian, advertising copywriter, solicitor, arts administrator or writer. You could go into marketing, research, broadcasting, publishing, the compiling of dictionaries, or teaching English as a foreign language.