About Literature Summer Programme
This programme gives you an experience of 'Cambridge English', with an emphasis on small group teaching, close attention to the words on the page, and radical inquiry into why literature matters.
The academic programme
- Plenary course GH0: Tragedy and Comedy
- Four special subject courses
(two for each week) - Evening lectures
Special subject courses
Classes allow for close and continuing discussion, and you will be expected to have done substantial preparatory reading before you arrive in Cambridge.
Term I:
Week 1:
9.15am – 10.45am
Ga1 - An introduction to James Joyce’s Ulysses: text and context
Ga2 - All’s well? Shakespeare’s 'problem plays'
Ga3 - The soul of C S Lewis
Ga4 - Three great British fantasists: Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake, J R R Tolkien This course is now full
2.00pm – 3.30pm
Ha1 - Guilt and the novel: from Crime and Punishment to Atonement
Ha2 - The modern novel I: one hundred years of experiments in narrative
Ha3 - Making sense of poetry
Ha4 - From Watchmen to Maus and beyond: the modern graphic novel
Week 2:
9.15am – 10.45am
Gb1 - "A lifetime burning in every moment": T S Eliot’s Four Quartets in context
Gb2 - Milton's Paradise Lost
Gb3 - Poetry, politics and pain: poets of the First World War
Gb4 - Three great American fantasists: Ursula Le Guin, Tamora Pierce, Lois McMaster Bujold
2.00pm – 3.30pm
Hb1 - The tragic South: literature of the American South
Hb2 - The modern novel II: one hundred years of experiments in narrative
Hb3 - Making sense of poetry
Hb4 - A long look at Rudyard Kipling
Term II:
Week 3:
9.15am – 10.45am
Gc1 - Euripides: 'the most tragic'?
Gc2 - Reading Virginia Woolf - This course is now full
Gc3 - Civilising sex in Spenser's The Faerie Queene
Gc4 - King Lear and Macbeth
2.00pm – 3.30pm
Hc1 - Philosophy of literature: understanding other minds through fiction
Hc2 - The serious Jane Austen: Mansfield Park and Persuasion - This course is now full
Hc3 - Philip Sidney and the English Renaissance
Hc4 - Keats: The narrative poems and the odes
Week 4:
9.15am – 10.45am
Gd1 - Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit: mystery and sedition
Gd2 - Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice
Gd3 - From Troy to Ithaca and Rome: classical heroes, and those who care for them
Gd4 - Major lyrics of the 17th century
2.00pm – 3.30pm
Hd1 - Philosophy of literature: understanding other minds through fiction
Hd2 - The poetry of W B Yeats
Hd3 - More's Utopia: a radical Renaissance vision
Hd4 - The lyric voice in the 19th century
Plenary lectures
Following the theme Tragedy and Comedy, the plenary lectures bring fresh perspectives to familiar masterpieces and encourage exploration in new directions.
Evening lectures
Additional general evening lectures will add to your enjoyment of the programme.
A typical day
On each weekday morning you attend a class from your Ga, Gb, Gc or Gd special subject course, followed by aplenary lecture. In the afternoons you attend a class from your Ha, Hb, Hc or Hd special subject course. Subject specific and joint lectures are offered in the evenings.
College accommodation
Accommodation is available for participants who want to stay in a Cambridge College. Please see theaccommodation options available for this programme.
Non-residential attendance is also available if participants prefer to find their own lodgings.
Information for applicants
Programme calendar
Who can apply
How to apply
Making choices
Programme options and fees
Language requirements
Visas
Booking terms and conditions
Download
The quickest way to apply is by using our secure online booking system. You can also apply by downloading an application form (pdf) and sending it by post or fax.