Master of Arts - Modern and Contemporary Literature

As a postgraduate student of literature, students will have the opportunity to explore a broad and diverse range of types of writings, from lyric poetry to contemporary fiction, and study an array of literary and cultural traditions, from European literature of the early twentieth century to American literatures, including recent Caribbean writing.

Students will be able to construct their degree based on their interests, drawing on an extensive list of options, including modules on: modernism and postmodernism, adaptation, the environment and new nature writing, queer literature, African American literature, themes of war, violence, conflict and human rights in literature, literature and translation in a global context. 

Based in Essex's Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, students will join a community of novelists, dramatists, story-tellers and poets. They’ve nurtured a long tradition of distinguished writers whose work has shaped literature as we know it today, from past giants such as the American poets Robert Lowell and Ted Berrigan, to contemporary writers such as mythographer and novelist Dame Marina Warner, and Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri.

A good literature and creative writing degree opens many doors and Essex's students have gone on to work in a number of careers such as writers, editors, publishers, scholars, university lecturers, teachers, journalists, arts administrators, theatre artistic directors, drama advisers, and translators.