MA American Literatures

Gain a rich understanding of the variety and interconnections of American writing, exploring major poetic, fictional, non-fictional and dramatic works. You will read from the cannon of American literature, as well as texts that are topical and contemporary.

At Essex, we challenge the study of the United States as a territorially bound space by embracing an expanded conception of ‘America’, which explores the richness of U.S. and Caribbean literatures in dialogue. This allows you to formulate sophisticated analyses of the role of space and place in the production of American writing and identities.

You explore how cultural geography may be integrated into literary history, concentrating on American literatures topics including:

• How violence and conflict have shaped writing across the American tropics
• The difference between reality and the “American Dream”
• Caribbean modernities and post-colonialism
• US nationalism and regionalism in literature
• African American literature