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.

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-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.