Literature in English
“It’s in literature that true life can be found.
It’s under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth.”
Gao Xingjian
Every day, words move us and inspire us to act. The EJC student of Literature will be able to harness the power of words and their effects, passionately expressing his or her own personal voice. You will learn to find meaning amidst ambiguity and see universal ideas in diverse landscapes, understanding how culture and power are one. To study Literature is to study life itself. To practise Literature is to influence the lives of others.
Our Curriculum
We believe that the Literature classroom thrives on discussion, which is why team-teaching and student-led seminars are the order of the day. In the core paper, you will master the literary nuances of poetic, narrative and dramatic texts, and sharpen your close analysis skills. Apply these to the elective paper, where you will traverse social, historical and cultural contexts in three different texts. Learn to compare unseen poems and set texts, and craft an interpretation you can truly call your own.
The college is offering the following papers and texts for the academic course of 2024-2025:
Paper One: Reading Literature
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Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre (Penguin)
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William Shakespeare: The Winter's Tale (New Cambridge)
Paper Two: Reading Literature featuring the English Romantic Period (1785-1832)
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Henrik Ibsen: An Enemy of the People, Trans. James McFarlane (Oxford World's Classics)
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John Keats: Selected Poems (Penguin)
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Percy Bysshe Shelley: Selected Poems and Prose (Penguin)
Our Enrichment
In EJC, words leap off the page onto the stage. With our Drama programme, we will encounter and pursue dramatic writing, performance and production first-hand. We bring our texts into the spotlight at our annual Literature Festival. When we say Literature is life, we really mean it.