This quartet of courses considers literary works in English from the perspective of their various genres – poetry, fiction, adaptation – and their many forms –  material, conceptual, stylistic – and investigates the ways in which writers and artists manipulate and transform such textual materials in order  to challenge and compel their audiences, and so, paradoxically, ensuring the longevity of original sources.

Block 1:

The English Lyric in Theory and Practice (EN3V18002)

This course will discuss the history, theory, and methodologies of the English lyric since the Renaissance to the present day, which allows you to examine a broad historical survey of major traditions of the vernacular short poem, and also allows you to engage with a range of recent theoretical assessments of lyric as a genre and an construction of selfhood. There is a particular focus on poetic, linguistic, and psychoanalytic theory to help unravel the intricate historical processes that embody the speaking subject; the singular voice of the lyric ‘I’.

Block 2:

Adapting to the English Novel (EN3V14302)

This course will analyse the adaptions of English novels into their respective films, plays, other books or musical compositions.

Block 3:

Revolutions of the Word (EN3V24008)

This course will have a focus on Virginia Woolf’s works, and how her works are explored from different perspectives, like literary studies, linguistics, digital humanities, philosophy and more. It will feature works like To the Lighthouse (1927), “A Room of One’s Own” (1929), The Waves (1931), Flush: A Biography (1933). The approaches and works will be extensively discussed from various angles and will be incorporated in essays.

Block 4: 2 options

Block 4: (you can choose one option; both are taught every year)

Engels-Nederlands Vertalen (EN3V17005)

This course teaches about various approaches (historical, theoretical) to translating from English to Dutch, and practise applying those approaches to analyses and translations of different types of texts. This course is taught in Dutch.

Creative Writing (EN3V14304)

This course will learn you about how to write creative works in English. The fiction, non-fiction, or poetry you write will always be accompanied by academic reflection.