Modern Scottish Writing

After ten years of devolution, Scotland’s national status ‘is both dangled before us and tantalisingly withheld’ (Don Paterson).

The MLitt in Modern Scottish Writing explores this ambivalence, and how it is both shaped and reflected by literary texts including novels, poems, ballads and songs, from the Romantic period to the present. Our approach is informed by critical theory as well as traditional literary history, thus providing an ideal introduction to further postgraduate work.

Scottish Writing Programme

This programme explores modern Scottish literature in relation to the ambivalent condition of Scottish history and identity.

We focus on writing from Robert Burns, Walter Scott and James Hogg, through Victorian and late 19th-century writers (Galt, Buchan, Stevenson) to the modernist experiments of Hugh MacDiarmid and his followers, and on to provocative 20th-century experiments in language, textuality and historical re-telling (Welsh, Galloway, Kelman, Spark, Gray, Saadi, Robertson).

No previous experience in studying Scottish literature is required. Leading Scottish writers and critics feature prominently in assigned reading, as do theorists of cultural modernity.

Entrance Requirements

An upper second class or better single or combined Honours degree in a relevant subject or subjects from a UK university or an equivalent qualification.

Applicants with other qualifications or other appropriate experience may be admitted on the recommendation of the Programme Director.

English Language Requirements

If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your proficiency such as a minimum IELTS score of 6 (minimum 5.5 in each skill), or TOEFL: Listening 21, Reading 22, Speaking 23, Writing 21.

Funding

information on possible sources of funding

Modes of Study

Full-time: one year
Part-time: 27 months

Programme Start Date

September

Structure and Content

The first semester provides a thematic and historical overview of the programme (doubling as a survey course in modern Scottish literature); the second semester challenges cultural historicism by proposing connections between romantic and modernist writing, in relation to themes of authenticity, representation
and democracy.

In parallel with the core module, other modules allow you to develop a more specialised knowledge of specific texts and issues. You will take one of these modules each semester. If you are on the part-time programme you will take the two optional modules in year two. These modules vary depending on teaching staff, and include:

• Enlightenment Scotland and the Historical Novel: An examination of the 'invention' and development of the historical novel in Scotland, and the powerful influence of this genre in the structuring of cultural memory
• Language and Scottish Poetry: An exploration of a series of paradoxes surrounding orality, tradition and cultural identity in modern Scottish poetry
• Writing Difference: Scottish Women and Tradition: A study of the place and function of women's writing in the formation of a national canon.
• Scottish Gothic: Focuses on the contribution of Scottish writing to the emergence of the Gothic as a counter-discourse within Enlightenment modernity
• Writing Home: Scottish Landscape and Narrative: Explores questions of home, territory and 'place' in modern Scottish writing by examining literary representations – and productions – of distinctive cultural and national geographies
• Comparative Approaches to Vernacular Texts:  An exploration of vernacular, non-standard and 'foreign' English writing in relation to Scottish, American, and post-colonial cultures.

Our innovative training for graduates enables students to build up a portfolio of skills that prepares them for academic and professional life. All graduate students will work with their supervisors to select what's right for them from a menu of activities. Each student will build up a portfolio of skills every year. On a taught postgraduate degree, you may be given specific guidance on what activities you need to undertake for those qualifications.

Delivery and Assessment

Dissertation
The most significant piece of work on the programme will be a dissertation of 15,000 words, written during the summer, on a subject of your choosing in consultation with a member of teaching staff. You may choose to develop work initiated on one of the modules you have studied. Those who do not embark on the dissertation may be awarded a Diploma. The work of the best students completing the programme may be deemed worthy of an MLitt with Distinction.

Timetable

Contact the School for information on your timetable and reading lists.

RAE Rating

Over half of our submissions in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) were found to be ‘Internationally Excellent’ or ‘World-leading’.

Career Opportunities

Completing a Master’s degree as a prelude to further academic research is an increasingly common pattern of study for young scholars, and is a route encouraged by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Advanced education in the Arts, the practical experience of research and the production of a dissertation are significant transferable skills for many careers in business and the professions.