English

Why study English?

The English Major is taught by internationally distinguished staff. Our core subjects develop ideas in literary history, literary theory and contemporary critical approaches, while also providing a focused study of literary genres, periods and regions.

In our subjects, students read a wide range of texts spanning some 500 years of literary history, from Shakespeare to Alexis Wright. They also encounter a variety of literary forms, from the short story to the novel, plays, poetry and memoir. Our students analyse literature in English from around the world, addressing key issues of identity, representation, conflict, desire, authorship and ethics.

Critical and creative practices are often linked in our discipline, with understanding gained through one mode sustaining the other. By delving deeply into texts, students discover some of the complexities of language and the ways in which culture, thought and writing have shaped and continue to shape each other.

They are encouraged to reflect on their own reading habits and to travel beyond the limits of lived experience, extending the capacity for empathy or learning to sit with difference. Reading in this way is a vital means of knowing ourselves as individuals and as part of our wider community.