Studying Literature

Literary study aims to provide knowledge of literature and writers from Antiquity to the present time and of their positions and conditions in society. Courses are designed to further the understanding of the literary text as a personal, historical, social and aesthetic document. Through literature we can learn how people in different epochs have felt and thought, their ideas, visions, dreams and nightmares and how these have assumed literary form.

A literature scholar wants to understand the function and meaning of different literary works, both the classics and texts that have been forgotten or marginalised for various reasons. The focus is on the printed texts but attention is also paid to fictional works in the theatre and films, on the web, radio, TV and new media.