Modules for course Q3AB | MA/ALI
MA Arthurian Literature

Compulsory Modules

Semester 1

• QXE-4015: Literary Theory & Research (30) Core
  This module will introduce students to various literary theories and research methodologies. Topics may include: Scholarly Methodologies I: Creative & Critical Research Processes; Scholarly Methodologies II: Reading, Writing, Editing; Organising Your Text: Notation and Bibliography; The Reader Response Theory; Genre; Gender/Queer Theory; Freud & Psychoanalytic Criticism; Culture & Cultural Memory/Material Culture; Rhetoric; Literature, Post-Colonialism and Globalisation; Marxist Criticism; Writing and Race.
• QXE-4030: Medieval Arthur (30)
  This module will explore the Arthurian myth and legends from its inception through to the end of the Middle Ages, while paying attention to the way the story was shaped in different centuries, socio-political contexts, as well as material culture – the manuscript and printed editions. The module will offer the postgraduates on the MA in Arthurian Literature a solid foundation for the continuation of their course, while giving others, who choose this module as an option, an insight into the origins and development of Arthurian themes in early literature. There will be ample time during the semester for the postgraduates to shape and develop their own enquiries of the subject.

Semester 2

• QXE-4031: Post-Medieval Arthur (30)
  This module will explore the Arthurian myth and legends in the post-medieval periods, particularly from the early modern period onwards, also paying attention to the way the story was shaped in different centuries, socio-political contexts, as well as material culture – the manuscript and printed editions up to the present day. The module will offer the postgraduates on the MA in Arthurian Literature a solid foundation for the continuation of their course, while giving others, who choose this module as an option, an insight into the origins and development of Arthurian themes in post-medieval literature, including adaptations for film. There will be ample time during the semester for the postgraduates to shape and develop their own enquiries of the subject.

credits from:

• QXE-4090: The Postgraduate Dissertation (60) (Semester 3) Core
  The Dissertation module constitutes Part Two of the MA, and represents the culmination of the programme of study in the production of a substantial piece of scholarly research. Students are required to produce a 20,000-word dissertation on a literary topic, the precise nature of which will be agreed in consultation with the supervisor. Early meetings will be used to discuss ideas, resources, and approaches, later meetings to discuss final drafts of the dissertation.

Optional Modules

30 credits from:

• QXE-4011: MA Open Essay 1 (30) (Semester 1)
  This optional module enables students who have completed two taught modules (QXE4015 Literary Theory, Scholarship and Research and one other module) to develop an individual research project, shorter in length than the MA Dissertation, with guidance from a supervisor. The precise nature of the topic will be agreed between the student and the supervisor.
• QXE-4012: MA Open Essay 2 (30) (Semester 2)
  Each module is taught by up to six individual supervisory tutorials, one hour each, the exact timing across the semester to be agreed between tutor and student. QXE4012 is taken by all students taking the English MA.
• QXE-4025: Manuscript and Printed Books (30) (Semester 2)
  This module will explore a range of manuscripts and incunabula from the medieval and early modern periods, with a view to engaging with the complex notions of medieval written artefact and composite books, the circulation and the dissemination of manuscripts and printed books. This module will offer the postgraduate the opportunity to pursue highly innovative lines of research in often neglected fields of study, including editing from digital resources and dealing with complex issues in transcription. There will be ample time during the semester for the postgraduate to shape and develop their own enquiries.
• QXE-4050: Material Texts & Editing (30) (Semester 2)
  This module will explore the complex inter-relationships between texts and the editorial methods which lead to the production of editions. It will expose students to issues pertaining to textual transmission and authorship from the medieval to the contemporary period and difficulties posed by factors such as anonymity or translation and adaptation, among other. The students will have the opportunity to study the methods employed in the editing of scholarly journals, and of texts from the medieval to the contemporary period, including elements relating to the history of publishing in these periods, with a view to better understanding the influence of the editorial process on the history of textual reception. Manuscript as well as print history will be related to the shaping of the canon of literature, and students will be encouraged to learn about as well as view critically norms practiced and adopted by editors across time.

0 to 10 credits from:

• QXE-4033: Postgraduate Portfolio S1 (10) (Semester 1)
  This module is designed to enable to postgraduate to pursue advanced level of research through sustained pieces of writing on a research area to be determined by student and tutor. This module offers the opportunity for the postgraduate to submit a portfolio of work of independent research (guided by tutorial supervision) addressing an enquiry which might not be on offer within the existing range of core and optional postgraduate modules within the existing menu in the home CAH School. The intellectual format of the portfolio will be agreed by tutor and student and will present an ideal outlet in which to demonstrate the student¿s scholarly practices: the ability to construct carefully researched and organised piece(s) of writing; the ability to abide by scholarly practices of notation and referencing; the ability to engage at an advanced level with critical approaches to the chosen field of enquiry; the ability to formulate argumentation at an advanced level.
• QXE-4034: Postgraduate Portfolio S2 (10) (Semester 2)
  This module is designed to enable to postgraduate to pursue advanced level of research through sustained pieces of writing on a research area to be determined by student and tutor. This module offers the opportunity for the postgraduate to submit a portfolio of work of independent research (guided by tutorial supervision) addressing an enquiry which might not be on offer within the existing range of core and optional postgraduate modules within the existing menu in the home CAH School. The intellectual format of the portfolio will be agreed by tutor and student and will present an ideal outlet in which to demonstrate the student¿s scholarly practices: the ability to construct carefully researched and organised piece(s) of writing; the ability to abide by scholarly practices of notation and referencing; the ability to engage at an advanced level with critical approaches to the chosen field of enquiry; the ability to formulate argumentation at an advanced level.