Overview

The Department teaches world literature written in English. Our curriculum is not traditional in the mundane sense of the word, but considers the ongoing dialogue between tradition and innovation, and the conversation among European, colonial and postcolonial writers.

Members of the Department are actively engaged in researching various areas of literary study, including American, British, South African and World literature, Dante, Environmental fiction, literary theory, maritime fiction, memoir and life-writing, postcolonial literature, Science fiction, Shakespeare and early modern studies, South African theatre, travel writing, Zimbabwean literature. We have covered, and continue to cover a diverse range of authors including Margaret Atwood, Alison Bechdel, Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Raymond Carver, J.M. Coetzee, C.A. Davids, Dante, Damon Galgut, Frank Herbert, Kazuo Ishiguro, Marlon James, Hari Kunzru, Zakes Mda, Thomas Pynchon, J.D. Salinger, Eben Venter, Ivan Vladislavic, Virgina Woolf and more.

Curriculum

Courses offered include: 

• American Literature consists of three independent modules, each with its own focus on particular aspects of American cultural history and aesthetic production.
• Fantasy
• Fiction of the Unreal
• Medieval Literature explores the various portrayals of heroism in medieval English literature. 足球竞彩app排名s also have the opportunity of extending their linguistic expertise in Old and Middle English.
• Postmodern and Contemporary Literature is probably the most contemporary course on the Honours curriculum, aiming to chart not only key practices in today’s literature (including film), but also how these relate, or do not relate, to current contexts.
• Renaissance Literature highlights the adventurousness of English Renaissance authors in both poetry and drama.
• Science Fiction
• Social Change in the 19th Century Novel takes into consideration Georg Lukàcs’s theory that novels reflect the structure of historical and social reality and the Marxist view of history as a dialectical class struggle. The course is structured around seminal European novels written in periods of important social and cultural upheaval
• South African and Post-Colonial Literature focuses on late twentieth-century and contemporary South African fiction.

Entry Requirements

Honours:

Applicants should hold a bachelor’s degree with at least a 70% average in third-year English (literary studies), depending upon the institution, and at the discretion of the Postgraduate Convener. Highly qualified applicants with a degree in English education will also be considered. 

Additional requirements may apply.

University Application Process

University Fees and Funding

Click here to see the current average tuition fees. The Fees site also provides information about the payment of fees and closing dates for fees payments. Once you have applied you will be able to access the fees estimator on the student self-service portal.

For information about postgraduate funding opportunities, including the postgraduate merit award, click here. The University's Postgraduate Funding portal is a database of scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities available to Wits postgraduate students. Please also check your School website for bursary opportunities. NRF bursaries: The National Research Foundation (NRF) offers a wide range of opportunities in terms of bursaries and fellowships to students pursuing postgraduate studies. External bursaries portal: The Bursaries South Africa website provides a comprehensive list of bursaries in South Africa.