This degree offers a detailed investigation of the range of theoretical and critical approaches that have shaped English and Film Studies in recent years. The programme combines a mixture of close textual and visual analysis with an exploration of the critical theories that are applied to film and literature. You will also be encouraged to reflect on how the two disciplines – film and literature – can overlap. As a student of English you will look at imaginative writings in their cultural and historical contexts. It may mean walking through the London of Defoe, Dickens, Virginia Woolf or Monica Ali. It may mean discovering the impact of the French Revolution on English art or the impact of the colonial experience on colonisers and colonised. You will also learn about the history of critical and theoretical approaches to literary texts and question the notion of ‘literature’ itself. You’ll discover how history, philosophy and psychology shape literary criticism and theory and how literature itself is taken on board by those disciplines.

The broad range of skills gained through undergraduate courses in the School, coupled with multiple opportunities for extra-curricular activities and work experience, have enabled students to move into careers such as: Junior Producer - ITN Actor - Self employed Script Reader - Writers Avenue Editorial Assistant - Dazed & Confused Magazine Associate Producer - Idle Motion PR Assistant - Proud Gallery Research Assistant - Tatler Programme Compiler - Channel 4 Market Researcher - Maritz Global Mobility Project Assistant - Diageo Marketing Coordinator - News Quest Ltd Graduate Analyst - Barclays Capital.