The course investigates the role of literature in the formation of national identity, tracing the development of the USA as a nation through a set of representative texts. We will explore how certain historical and cultural developments from the first English colonies to the late 19th century contributed to the emergence of an independent literary tradition in America and how literary texts in turn have influenced national and cultural identities. In addition, the course demonstrates how various 20th-century debates have re-evaluated the literary canon.

BA Thesis Information

All students are required to do a BA thesis in their main subject. This is done in conjunction with theBA seminar (ENGA1). The supervisor is the seminar teacher.

A Bachelor’s Thesis is a research paper that

• should be about 20 pages (about 5000 words) long
• should present a research question and be placed within a theoretical framework and the literature of the relevant field
• should have a clear structure and chapter division:
  • introduction
  • the body of the text (analysis)
  • conclusion
• should have a separate title page, contents page, and Bibliography/References/Works Cited
• should conform to the Department Style Guide (please note the differences between linguistic and literary studies)

The Bachelor’s Thesis is a piece of independent research work. The identification of the topic and research question, the thought and the analysis should be driven by the student. The topic of the thesis has to be agreed with the teacher in charge (the supervisor).

Thesis writing is process writing so the student should be prepared to hand in at least one draft for the supervisor’s comments and suggestions for improvement before submitting the final version of the thesis.

After the thesis has been submitted the student will take a maturity test (kypsyyskoe) based on the thesis.

The course observes English-language literature from a global and postcolonial perspective. The course introduces the rise (and fall) of British imperialism and explains how this history gave rise to postcolonial literatures in different parts of the English-speaking world. Specific aspects studied on the course include British colonial ideology, postcolonial identity-formation, counter-narrative, the struggle over different “Englishes”, the global and the local, as well as the adoption, rejection and transformation of imperial literary traditions.

The course offers a survey of the major authors of British and American Romanticism. The course specifically illustrates how our culture and ideas are still today influenced by Romanticism, and it does this by reading some of the most important texts of the 19th century – showing how these lay the foundation for attitudes and ideas which are still contested to this day in the form of various (post)modernisms, cultural phenomena, and critical debates.

NB: This course is offered exceptionally as a three credit course. Therefore, it can not be counted towards the credit sum of your intermediate studies and will cause the total credits of your intermediate studies to go over the required amount by three credits.

A compulsory part of the orientation for first-year students.

The course is taught by university library staff and is a part of LTLY16 Orientation Course and Personal Study Plan.

You need to take this if you are a first-year student in the  Degree Programme in English Language, Literature and Translation.

If you are a student of some other degree programme and are taking English as optional studies you do not need to take this as you will either have information retrieval skills as part of your own degree programme or you will have done an earlier equivalent of LTLY16 (this would have been registered as Opintojen suunnittelu or something similar).

The course introduces the origins and rise of literature in English, and examines how literary texts both reflect the ideas of their own time and contribute to their change. The course includes works from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, tracing the development of an English-language literature in England, its connections to contemporary European developments, and its role in constructing images of England and Britain that defined how the island, its kingdoms, and its people were perceived. Literary genres typical of different eras are also introduced.

We apologize for the very short notice in announcing the teaching times for this course. Students who miss the enrolment period can just show up on the first lecture and inform the teacher that they wish to take the course. If there is room on the course they will be taken in. The same applies for students who miss the first lecture: they can just show up on the second lecture.

We apologize for the very short notice in announcing the teaching times for this course. Students who miss the enrolment period can just show up on the first lecture and inform the teacher that they wish to take the course. If there is room on the course they will be taken in. The same applies for students who miss the first lecture: they can just show up on the second lecture.

BA Thesis Information

All students are required to do a BA thesis in their main subject. This is done in conjunction with theBA seminar (ENGA1). The supervisor is the seminar teacher.

A Bachelor’s Thesis is a research paper that

• should be about 20 pages (about 5000 words) long
• should present a research question and be placed within a theoretical framework and the literature of the relevant field
• should have a clear structure and chapter division:
  • introduction
  • the body of the text (analysis)
  • conclusion
• should have a separate title page, contents page, and Bibliography/References/Works Cited
• should conform to the Department Style Guide (please note the differences between linguistic and literary studies)

The Bachelor’s Thesis is a piece of independent research work. The identification of the topic and research question, the thought and the analysis should be driven by the student. The topic of the thesis has to be agreed with the teacher in charge (the supervisor).

Thesis writing is process writing so the student should be prepared to hand in at least one draft for the supervisor’s comments and suggestions for improvement before submitting the final version of the thesis.

After the thesis has been submitted the student will take a maturity test (kypsyyskoe) based on the thesis.

ATTENTION! There is an error in the NettiOpsu enrolment which cannot be corrected now that enrolment has started. Groups 4 and 5 are wrongly shown as Wed 16-17 and Wed 17-18. They should be Mon 16-17 and Mon 17-18 (as below). So please note that if you're signing up for Groups 4 and 5, you are signing up for Monday groups. Apologies. Contact Ian Gurney if you have problems as a result of this error.

The student chooses an elective course on a) British Literature OR b) American Literature. The electives follow up on issues presented in the core courses, and they provide specialization on different ways of literary and cultural analysis such as the historical, thematic, aesthetic, and theoretical. The change and interaction occurring between literature, its different forms, and society is observed from Modernism to the different varieties of postmodernism.