Department of English
Through English language and literature, we interpret history and engage with philosophical ideas and social issues. We learn to appreciate the expressive range of language and literary forms, and we develop critical faculties. English fosters an awareness of the ways that particular institutions and social values are questioned, or given added legitimacy, through linguistic and literary conventions and representations. The close examination of language and literature helps to expose the ways in which ideas of race, gender, and ethnicity are socially constructed. The study of English, therefore, helps to make us more self-reflective about the political and social implications of stereotypes and other linguistic and literary structures.
English graduates will take an analytical view of the culture that surrounds us. They will have gained critical skills in close reading, an ability to analyse a wide range of texts, and the research skills necessary for independent enquiry. They will have become sensitive to the emotive impact of language and to the ways in which the production and reception of literature varies within different social and cultural contexts.
In the 2011 National Student Survey, 90% of students said the course was intellectually stimulating, and that staff are enthusiastic about the courses they teach
You will be taught by academics who are actively engaged in research and have published in their specialist fields. Members of the English department have significant international research publications in specialist areas such as Chaucer, popular literatures, travel writing, and American literature. The Department has links with a range of research networks such as the Collegium for African American Research, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, the Liverpool Travel Writing Seminar, and the Liverpool Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
In Language, your tutors are members of linguistics organisations including the British Association for Applied Linguistics and the International Society of World Englishes. The department has hosted events for the British Association of Applied Linguistics Special Interest Group on Language and Gender and for the English Subject Centre. English tutors belong to a thriving research group on popular culture.
Exposure to different cultures is essential in truly understanding language. The English team has international links with institutions abroad including Sun Yat-sen University, China, the Catholic University of South Korea and Ateneo de’Manila in the Philippines. Students studying English at Hope have the opportunity to spend time at institutions in Malta, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Bremen.Students from China, Korea, the United States and Europe come to Hope to study English in the Department. The cultural diversity and interaction generated by these links greatly enhances the programme.
Students will also have the opportunity to participate in the English Society and the Creative Writing Society. The English Society organises social events and peer mentoring. The Creative Writing Society runs poetry evenings and produces the English Literary Magazine, which is published annually. The Magazine provides students with a forum for publishing their creative work. We provide opportunities for field trips to libraries and museums. Student trips have recently been organised to the British Library’s Evolving English exhibition, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and the Walker Art Gallery.
For further information, please contact the Departmental Administrator,
Mrs Karen Quinn
Department of English
Tel: 0151 291 3992
Email: quinnk@hope.ac.uk
On 23rd May the Department of English are hosting an informal talk by the authors of a fascinating new book on the recent experience of performing Shakespeare in Afghanistan, which has been described as 'a theatrical miracle.' This will be a discussion around the practical and cultural challenges faced by a company that performed Love's Labour Lost in war-ravaged Kabul and have recently performed The Comedy of Errors in London. This promises to be an inspirational talk on what can be achieved in theatre despite seemingly insurmountable odds and will be of particular interest to staff and students working on Shakespeare as well as those studying Drama.
This event will be on 23rd of May at 5pm in FML058. There will be light refreshments available afterwards. We would be delighted if you could attend.
The Liverpool Travel Seminar is a collaborative and interdisciplinary research forum launched jointly by Liverpool Hope University, the University of Liverpool, and Liverpool John Moores University in 2007. It provides a constructive environment in which colleagues from Liverpool’s universities with interests in travel and travel writing will discuss the latest developments in their fields whilst reflecting on possible future directions.
Venue: Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park Campus, Childwall (Conference Centre, Room 3)
Time: 12.30-5.00pm
12.30-1.15
Lunch and Registration
1.15-2.00pm Betty Hagglund (Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies, Birmingham)
‘Multiple Voices in Nineteenth-Century Women’s Writings about Italy’
2.00-2.30pm
Coffee Break
2.30-3.30pm Kate Hodgson (University of Liverpool)
‘“Spare us your advice”: International Abolitionism, Travelling Philanthropists and their Haitian Critics in the Nineteenth Century’
David Clampin (Liverpool John Moores University)
‘Visual Voyages: The Marketing of Liverpool-based Shipping Companies, c.1870-c.1970’
3.30-4.00pm
Coffee Break
4.00-5.00pm Jen Hough (Liverpool Hope University)
‘Voyages of Discovery and the Medieval Weltanschauung: A Journey from Medieval Theological Literalism to Renaissance Realism’
Will Rossiter (Liverpool Hope University)
‘Sovendra du chaseur: Wyatt in France, France in Wyatt’
There will be no charge for involvement in the workshop, and all colleagues and postgraduate students with interests in the area are welcome to attend. If you would like to attend, please email Zoë Kinsley by Monday 28th May (kinslez@hope.ac.uk)