Cultural Currents in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century: Continuities between 'Victorian' and 'Modernist' Literature
Loughborough UniversityLoughborough, United Kingdom
Course overview
This PhD project provides an opportunity to investigate and challenge the boundaries and definitions of ‘Victorian’ and ‘modernist’ literature across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Key issues to be explored include: how do we define Victorian and modernist writing? How do these concepts relate to historical periodisation; for example, the idea of a radical transformation between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
What about the so-called transitional period of the fin de siècle or turn of the century? What are some of the continuities and affinities that we can identify in literature and culture across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? Does literature have to be ‘new’, experimental and demonstrably modern or modernist to be worthy of study?
And what role does genre fiction, such as the sensation novel, the Gothic, the weird tale, play in our definitions of nineteenth and twentieth-century literature? The English department at Loughborough has particular research expertise in these areas. The Cultural Currents: Nineteenth to Twentieth Century research group has a wealth of knowledge relating to several areas of nineteenth and twentieth-century literature and culture, including Victorian literature, decadence and aestheticism, the fin de siècle, Edwardian literature, the Gothic, sensation fiction, Weird fiction, and modernism.
PhD researchers in these areas would be embedded and supported by a lively and diverse research culture, within the English department, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the wider University. 94% of Loughborough’s research impact is rated world-leading or internationally excellent. REF 2021
Key highlights
- Challenges boundaries between Victorian and modernist literature across two centuries
- Explores the fin de siècle as a transitional literary period
- Examines genre fiction including sensation novels, the Gothic and weird tales
- Supervision from a research group covering decadence, aestheticism and Edwardian literature
- Researchers embedded in a lively, diverse departmental and university research culture
- 94% of research impact rated world-leading or internationally excellent (REF 2021)
Entry requirements
- Degree: 2:1 — 2:1
Scholarships
Alumni Bursary
10% of tuition fees which will be credited to the student’s tuition fee account.
Up to 10% of feesAlumni Discount
UK students: £1,500 tuition fee discount for one academic year. International students: £3,000 tuition fee discount for one academic year.
Care Leaver's Scholarship
Excellence Scholarships
UK students: £3,000 off tuition fees; International students: £6,000 off tuition fees which will be credited to the student’s tuition fee account.
International Sports Student Postgraduate Bursary
Our International Sports Student Postgraduate Bursary offers a £12,000 tuition fee discount (set against the tuition fees of your chosen postgraduate taught programme ONLY).
Up to £12,000London 10th Anniversary Award
£5,000 off tuition fees.
Up to £5,000Loughborough Business School Scholarship
£1,500 (UK students) and £3,000 (international students) off tuition fees which will be credited to the student’s tuition fee account.
MBA Progress with Purpose Scholarship
50% of tuition fees which will be credited to the student’s tuition fee account.
Up to 50% of feesQatari Ghanim Al-Muftah Excellence Scholarship
Careers this course leads to
- University lecturer
- Postdoctoral researcher
- Archivist
- Editor
- Museum or heritage curator
- Secondary school English teacher
Cost of study
UK/Home: £5,238 | International: £29,500
Admission
Applications are made through AHZ at no cost. Share your transcripts, English test scores and personal statement, and your AHZ Counsellor will review your profile, submit your application to Loughborough University, and guide you through interview, offer, CAS and visa — right up to enrolment.
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