Transatlanic Literary Studies concerns itself explicitly with transatlantic texts and comparisons. Cultural transatlanticism presents two kinds of limitations: first, it is much discussed in relation to trans- and post-nationalist political and cultural studies, leaving literature unexamined, and secondly, comparative practice in transatlantic literary studies has to date been relatively unreflective about its methods and assumptions. What sort of models might be available for this new field of transatlantic literary studies? How are traditional literary genres to be understood within a new set of concepts breaking away from national canons and typologies? How does literary theory and methodology need to be adapted to the exigencies of literary transatlanticism? These are some of the issues that the MSc degree will address. The first course to bring together examples of the critical and theoretical models that have influenced and continue to define this rapidly expanding field, it offers a range of instances of comparative thinking that focuses some of these questions about literary history. The course offers students an introduction to the study of the literatures and cultures of the Atlantic civilisation, and those complex interchanges between the Americas, Europe and Africa which are a fundamental feature of modern life. In particular, this degree focuses on the transnational and multilingual networks of Atlantic literatures, ranging across English, Spanish, and French-speaking countries - and the three continents concerned - as well as on the historical and intellectual interactions between the cultures of the Atlantic civilisation.
For the Literature and Transatlanticism Programme Handbook 2009-10, click here.
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