Master of Arts in English Literature

Program Description

Welcome to the Graduate Program for the Master of Arts in English Literature. Please have a look and contact us with any questions or requests for further information.

While maintaining a strong emphasis in the ongoing construction of British and American literary traditions as well as established forms of literary study, the program is committed to the teaching of Anglophone literatures written outside of Britain and the U.S. and to encouraging the pursuit of a broad range of theoretical, historical and interdisciplinary concerns that take us beyond canonical categories. Our rigorous, but flexible, curriculum is supported by a dedicated and innovative faculty actively involved in research, ongoing course development, and programs of study organized by students' individual interests and objectives. Hofstra's MA in English Literature may be used as the basis for further graduate study, in an MFA or Ph.D. program, or (with further course work in Education) as a terminal degree for high school certification. It is a way to strengthen the profiles of students who are interested in pursuing careers that include writing, teaching, and publishing—and any number of fields, including law, international government, digital publishing—and it offers enrichment to those interested in sheer delights and rich instruction often associated with the literary study.

Electives, Distribution Requirements and the Changing Curriculum
Reflecting continuing developments in literary, theoretical and cultural studies, our evolving curriculum includes an ever-growing set of courses. In past years we have offered courses in such areas as Literature and Psychoanalysis; Autobiography and Life Writing; 19th and 20th Century British Women Novelists; The Literature of Empire; Shakespeare After New Historicism; Literature, Trauma, and Climate Change; Queer Victorians; From City to Suburb in Anglo-American Culture; Contemporary Historical Fiction; Unruly Bodies in American Literature; Novel of Manners; British Gothic Fiction; Toni Morrison; and Masterpieces of American Violence; Poetic Forms; Classical Backgrounds of 17th-18th Century English Literature. In coming years, we shall offer these and other courses in History of the Book; The Fluid Text; Native American Literature; South Asian Writers. In addition, our students in the MA Program are free to take one course in Creative Writing, and so may find themselves in workshops on Poetry or Playwriting, Fiction or, say, Poetic Forms.

Course Selection, Enrollment and Scheduling
We offer a wide variety of graduate classes throughout the year, during fall, winter, spring, and summer (two sessions); and class size is always limited to 15. Semester-long courses meet once a week, Monday through Thursday, 4:30-6:20 p.m. and 6:30-8:20 p.m. Summer classes meet twice each week, in the evenings. Students may also pursue individual courses of study through the writing of a Master’s Thesis or pursuit of an independent study designed in consultation with a faculty member of their choice.