English Literature

In this research area, English Literature and Language faculty train gradaute students to recognize the complex interactions of culture and literature. We focus primarily—but not exclusively—on literature written around the world in English. Literature and literary criticism are significant parts of an age-old, continuing conversation about the meaning and value of human society. Stories, poems, and plays always arise out of specific times, places, and cultural traditions, and often gives powerful voice to marginalized experiences and individual differences against the backdrop of larger, homogenizing forces.

The study of literature enables one to engage this conversation richly, both for personal development and for the ability it gives one to be a responsible, active agent in the many societies each person inhabits. Moreover, literary study gives one insight into how cultures operate in such a way as to facilitate ethical cross-cultural interactions.