A wonderful opportunity for students with a passion for literature to discover a range of new authors and texts, explore fresh approaches to familiar works and to prepare for undergraduate study of English Literature.
“Before attending the English Literature Summer School, I was not sure if I wanted to study this subject at higher level, but participating in such an academically driven environment, surrounded and taught by specialists who are so enthusiastic about their subject, has convinced me without doubt that I would love to pursue English Literature at university. If you have any reservations about whether this course would be useful – don’t hesitate! I had one of the best weeks of my summer, meeting so many interesting people, whilst learning about areas of literature I had never encountered before!”
English Literature Summer School Student 2015
Summer School Schedule 2016
The English Summer School – Part 1 will cover literature dating from 650AD to 1790AD, including Middle English, Medieval Literature, Chaucer, The Renaissance, Shakespeare, Restoration Literature and the Rise of the Novel. In addition we will also be covering Historicist and Feminist critical approaches as part of this Summer School. Taking place 25th-29th July.
The English Summer School – Part 2 will cover literature dating from 1790AD to the present day, including Romanticism and the Gothic Movement, Victorian Sensation Novels, Literature and the British Empire, Modernism, Postmodernism and Contemporary Literature. We will be covering the ‘Death of the Author’ and Postcolonial criticism as part of this Summer School. Taking place 1st-5th August.
The English Summer School – Part 3 is new for summer 2016, and will cover Contemporary English Literature, including prose fiction, poetry and drama. We will be covering Psychoanalytic criticism and ‘Theories of the Canon’ as part of this Summer School. Taking place 22nd-26th August.
Please note that students can attend all Parts of the Summer School, or just one or two, depending on their literary interests. Although the courses complement one another, they can also be treated as stand alone events and there is no requirement to have attended Part 1 in order to register for other Parts.
Thematic coverage by period, combining close study of texts with lectures on historical and cultural context, and setting major authors side-by-side with less familiar works, will help students to appreciate the development of prose, verse and drama in English from the middle ages to the present day. We will not only engage in close textual analysis of Medieval, Renaissance, Romantic, Nineteenth Century, Modernist and Contemporary writers, but also evaluate these movements in light of the authors’ own critical writing.
As well as looking at the purely written word, we will also cover literature in performance, comparing play scripts to film adaptations and reading through sections of the works using different performance theories. As an integral part of Part 1 of the Summer School we will attend a performance of Macbeth at the Globe Theatre on the Southbank. Literary theory and criticism will play an important role in the Summer School and students will be invited to examine texts they have studied in the light of competing theories of the nature and value of literature and the role of the critic.
This Summer School is suitable for all students aged 15-18 with a passion for literature, and will be particularly useful for those looking for a taste of undergraduate level engagement with texts and theory.
Practical Details:
The cost of booking any single Part of the English Literature Summer School £465, the cost of any two Parts is £850, and the cost for all three Parts of the Summer School is £1200. The Summer School will be held at a University of London venue in Bloomsbury (please note that these courses are not residential, and accommodation must be arranged independently if required).
There will be a limited number of bursary spaces available for those who would otherwise have financial difficulty in attending – please see our website for details.
To book a place please visit http://www.debatechamber.com/summerschools/english-summer-school/ call us on 0845 519 4827, or email info@debatechamber.com. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.