Trinity College Dublin - Literatures of the Americas

Course Overview/Contact:

Over the last few decades the scholarly fields of American Literature, American Studies and Postcolonial Studies have undergone radical transformations. Their core concepts - including identity, race, citizenship, hybridity, and nationhood - have been challenged and redefined in fundamental ways both by creative writers and by theorists. This course - the first of its kind in Ireland and one of only a small number of similar courses in these islands - reflects on those changes and provides an exciting new postgraduate course of study for high calibre students.

This course provides an opportunity to engage in an advanced and detailed way with the literatures of the Americas. It stimulates fresh analyses of a wide range of literatures in English and in translation into English, by canonical, mainstream, avant-garde and marginal writers, and opens up research opportunities in this dynamic field. Students interact with texts in various genres and from different periods in their development of a complex sense of the literatures of the Americas, and the course promotes inter-disciplinarity as a key feature of its pedagogical approach. While the degree is complete in itself, the supervised dissertation of up to 20,000 words helps to lay a foundation for doctoral research in Postcolonial and/or American literary studies.

Applicants are normally expected to hold a II.1 Honours BA degree or the equivalent, in English and/or American Studies or a cognate discipline. Candidates must submit a sample of their critical writing as part of their application (max. 5,000 words).

Options for 2016-17 (subject to revision) 

Michaelmas

EN7038 Creole Literatures (Melanie Otto)

EN7112 Mark Twain’s Americas (Stephen Matterson)   

Hilary

EN7040 Diasporic Voices (Paul Delaney)

EN7095 Seeing ‘New Englandly’ (Philip Coleman) 

Course Options

The Core Course modules are 'Reading the Americas 1' and 'Reading the Americas 2’
 


Options for 2017-18:
 
Michaelmas
EN7038 Creole Literatures (Melanie Otto)
EN7112 Mark Twain’s Americas (Stephen Matterson)   
             


Hilary
EN7040 Diasporic Voices (Paul Delaney)
EN7095 Seeing ‘New Englandly’ (Philip Coleman)

Course Options:

1 year full-time

Course Url

www.tcd.ie/English/postgraduate/literatures-americas/

Course Director

Professor Melanie Otto

Telephone Number

+353-1-896 1355

Course Email

ottom@tcd.ie

Next Intake

September 2017

Closing Date

30th June 2017

Course Director
Dr Melanie Otto
School of English
Room 4009
Arts Building
Trinity College Dublin
Telephone: +353-1-896-1335
Email: ottom@tcd.ie

Course Administrator
Diane Sadler
Senior Executive Officer
School of English
Room 4024
Arts Building
Trinity College Dublin 
Dublin 2 
Telephone: +353-1-896-1111 
Email: sadlerd@tcd.ie

Entry Requirements:

Entry to this course is very competitive (and becoming more so every year) and prospective applicants are normally expected to have at least a high 2.1 (or equivalent) BA degree in English or a cognate discipline in order to be considered for entry.