BA (Hons) Creative Writing and English Literature Bachelor's degree at York St John University

This module will help you to become more confident in studying literature at degree level. You will engage with a range of texts written before the 19th century, considering various different forms including prose, drama, poetry, and autobiographical writing. Through this you will start to think about how literature and history can be brought together, and why Literature remains a popular and important subject to study.

Good writers are good readers first and foremost. This module will introduce you to theories, debates and practices in narrative, enhancing your understanding of narrative as it functions both within literature and culture generally. You will examine some of the codes and conventions that govern the production, structure, reception and interpretation of narrative. To do this you will explore films, novels, poetry and plays, from Ovid's Metamorphoses to Hitchcock's Vertigo. By engaging with these

This module will introduce you to the variety of professional contexts you could work in as a creative writer. You will start to develop the professional skills needed to work as a writer, working to deadlines and writing to briefs. You will engage with many different forms of writing, from memoirs to scripts and graphic novels to blogs. As part of this module you will have the chance to meet a variety of inspiring visiting writers, who can share their expertise with you.

What sort of social, political, cultural, and historical values do we bring to the study of literature? And in what ways have literary texts addressed important issues, major events, and social changes? This module explores these questions and more, using a diverse range of texts from the turn of the 19th century to the present day. The selection includes canonical works, as well as works which have often been neglected or overlooked, including those by marginalised authors. Through close examin

On this module you will learn the basics of academic writing and research at university level. Drawing on a range of classic and contemporary short stories and poems, you will develop skills such as: Using the library catalogue Choosing secondary sources Planning essays Developing arguments Close reading texts. These will allow you to write about and discuss the works that inspire you with confidence and flair.

This module introduces you to core skills in creative writing, including creating setting, poetic form, working with dialogue, and characterisation. You will also develop skills in workshopping and collaborating on creative work, familiarising yourself with the workshop environment which will be central to your learning on this course. You will have the opportunity to experiment with a range of forms and ideas in group writing activities, and through this module will become more confident in sha

On this module we will consider representations of economic, social and cultural power, and the ways in which they connect with various forms of identity. We will discuss how identities are formed, and how they can shift and change. We will consider, for example how sex, gender, sexuality, disability, race and ethnicity relate to power. We will discuss the representation of both power and identity in a variety of texts, including novels, films, novellas, and graphic novels, helping you to develo

This module emphasises the role of research in the production of creative work. We will introduce you to a range of research techniques to help stimulate creative projects and contextualise your writing. There will be opportunities to use different types of research materials to generate your own work, as well as studying texts that have been produced using different research methods. You will have the opportunity to take part in creative projects based on archival work.

Employability is discussed a lot at universities, but where does this idea come from, and what can literature teach us about work? This module interrogates the purpose of Literature, as both a degree and subject matter. It shows the value of literary study to understanding and navigating issues around the gendered, classed, and racialised nature of work. The module also provides opportunities for external placements, career planning, and work-related learning. You will reflect on and learn to ar

This work-related module will develop your understanding of the relationship between creative writing practices and employability in the creative industries. It is an opportunity for you to explore the methods and means of literary publishing, production and performance, developing transferable and employable skills through project work. The module combines a broad exploration of industry aims and ethics with first hand experience of specific editorial, commercial, and practical processes.

On this module we will consider the different ways books and films tell stories, and what happens to literature and literary characters when they are translated onto the screen. We will introduce you to the theory, methods and conventions behind the process of adaptation. In addition to examining specific examples of film adaptation, you can choose to experiment creatively on an adaptation project of your own, using what you have learnt.

Science fiction has a history of encouraging readers and viewers to reflect on their post industrial choices, and consider how they have affected the wellbeing of the planet and its inhabitants. On this module we will draw on a range of critical perspectives around utopianism to approach landmark texts in the history of science fiction. You will also have the opportunity to get involved with our ongoing science fiction writing project, Terra Two: An Ark for Off-World Survival

On this module we will consider whether we can meaningfully approach literary texts outside of their historical contexts. We will question whether a text can mean anything to anybody, or if are there more objective ways of understanding them. This module engages with some of the most fundamental questions in literary studies. It will equip you with the theoretical background and skills you need to offer insightful readings of any text, irrespective of when and where it was published.

On this module you will encounter varied and interesting texts produced within and written about major conflicts of the 20th and early 21st centuries. We will start with depictions of the mechanised horror of the Western Front and progress through representations of: The Second World War The Spanish Civil War Vietnam The Troubles in Northern Ireland 9/11 and the War on Terror We will read texts by writers as diverse as Martha Gellhorn, George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut, and examine the complex rel

This module explores the ways new forms of news and entertainment in the eighteenth century revealed the unstable boundaries between truth and fiction. This led to the emergence of literary forms that came to typify the literature of later periods, such as the novel. Print provided a forum for writers to express concern over different forms of power, an issue debated in terms of empire, political and religious authority and personal identity, and responsibility. On this module you will consider

On this module you will consider the relationship between American literature and the physical and symbolic spaces of its settings. In American culture concepts of space and setting have a particular relevance that dates back to events such as the declaration of independence, the founding of civic spaces, and the Californian gold rush. You will be challenged to think creatively, critically, and innovatively about physical space and literature. In doing so we will explore the relationship between

This module considers the sentimental turn literature took at the end of the eighteenth century, and explores its impact on what followed in both the Romantic movement and the Gothic revival. The writers we study on this module reckon with the power of the imagination, the limits of perception, the nature of human society, and the affective potential of literature itself, as well as processing the events of an a