Contemporary China MA

Institution University of Manchester
Method At the institution
Location Manchester
Type Masters

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Contemporary China MA

Objectives The programme will have a truly contemporary perspective, considering literature produced from 1970 to the present day but with particular focus on the period since 1990.
Entry requirements Entry requirements: A First or Upper Second class honours degree or its overseas equivalent, in English or a closely related area.
Academic title Contemporary China MA
Course description Course description

The MA Contemporary Literature and Culture is an exciting new postgraduate programme, based at the prestigious Centre for New Writing.

Students on the MA will be able to take full advantage of the Centre's resources, expertise and impressive events programme. They will have access to prominent writers both on the staff and appearing at the Centre's Literature Live and Martis Amis public events, with recent visitors including John Banville, Will Self, Rose Tremain, Galway Kinnell and Michele Roberts. They will also be encouraged to mix with the Centre's MA Creative Writing cohort, allowing a unique and productive dialogue between the creative and the critical.

Students on the MA will be taught by experts in contemporary literature and culture across the English and American Studies subject area, including M.J. Hyland, Geoff Ryman, Vona Groarke, Kaye Mitchell and Patricia Duncker, and will also be eligible to attend Professor of Creative Writing Martin Amis's exclusive master classes.

Module details

The core course, Reading the Contemporary, will introduce key ideas and concepts in the study of contemporary literature and culture. It will consider a range of critical perspectives but also the material contexts in which contemporary literature is produced and received, along with topical themes such as identity, nationalism, history, trauma culture and literature and terrorism. A diverse range of options will be on offer, allowing students to work on contemporary British, American, Irish and Postcolonial literature and culture, specific topics such as gender and sexuality, or specific forms such as film, poetry or the novel. A dissertation of 12,000 - 15,000 words will give students the opportunity to produce, under supervision, an extensive piece of work on a topic of their choosing, from within the field of contemporary literature and culture.