Shakespeare and Renaissance Literary Culture

Director: Dr Alex Davis (ald3@st-andrews.ac.uk)
Other teachers: Professor Lorna Hutson, Professor Andrew Murphy, Dr Barbara Murray, Dr Philip Parry, Professor Neil Rhodes

Entrance Requirements: a good degree with Honours from a UK university or its equivalent

Programme Duration: one year

Aim of Programme: to allow students fully to explore the literature and culture of the English Renaissance (c. 1500-1700), with a particular focus on the Work of William Shakespeare. Students will be introduced to a range of critical and interpretative perspectives, while the modular structure of the St Andrews MLitt permits them to build their own courses, selecting from a range of available module options.

Programme: The core modules of the MLitt in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literary Culture comprise: the learned culture of the English Renaissance; Renaissance popular culture; textual culture (manuscript, print, speech, and the editing of Renaissance texts); and the relationship between English writing of the period and the continental Renaissance (all foreign language texts will be taught in translation). Students on this MLitt must take at least three of these core courses. There will also be a changing array of special topics offered by different members of staff in each semester. The MLitt concludes with the writing a dissertation of 15,000 words on an agreed topic. Students who successfully complete the MLitt coursework but do not write a dissertation may be awarded the Postgraduate Diploma.