BA (Hons) Literature and History

About

Historians and literary critics often read the same documents, but they bring to them different approaches and employ different methods of analysis. This degree gives you the opportunity to learn and experiment with both ways of reading. In learning the skills of close textual analysis and engaging with narrative form, you will become a historian with a marked sensitivity to sources and a lively and engaging writing style. As you encounter arguments about historical causality and assess conflicting accounts of historical events, you’ll become a literary critic with a complex grasp of the social, political and cultural contexts in which literature is produced. The two disciplines enrich each other, and the diverse range of experts here combine to deliver you a course that is both flexible and distinctive. It’s up to you to set the precise balance between literature and history as your degree progresses – you might take an equal number of modules in both, or gradually specialise in one or the other discipline.  

You’ll be taught by specialists from two world-leading UEA departments. Our School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing is famous for innovation in teaching and for cutting-edge research – that’s why in the most recent Times Higher Education Analysis (REF2021), UEA was ranked 19th in the UK for the quality of its research in English Language and Literature. UEA is acknowledged to be at the forefront of History research in the UK, and in the Times Higher Education Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 Analysis, UEA was ranked 3rd overall in the UK for research quality in History. 

Studying in Norwich gives you access to a city rich in historical and cultural artefacts, and vivid literary and dramatic life. This unique degree also offers you many opportunities to extend your studies beyond the classroom, into archives of literary and historical manuscripts, and out to sites of historical and cultural importance.  

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