Literature

Program Overview

Literature at Bryant

To understand the world, you must be able to interpret it and acquire the skills to navigate successfully through complex problems that have no easy solutions. You must also be capable of understanding people with backgrounds and experiences that don't resemble your own.

The Literature concentration reflects the changing landscape of literary studies and offers you the opportunity to study and learn U.S. and international literatures. You'll be able to:

• Understand the formation of "literature," including an historical overview of the development of British and American literatures, as well as an in-depth study of literary genres, such as poetry, drama, and narrative.
• Explore the emergence of new voices, approaches, and critical shifts within the field of literary studies. These developments reflect an increasingly diverse U.S. society and the proliferation of new literary genres and movements within a global context.
• Engage in the creative act of writing. This includes workshops in poetry and fiction writing, as well as opportunities to produce sustained research projects in literary studies.

The Department of English and Cultural Studies is committed to examining, interrogating, and reimagining forms of literacy. The development of this skill — critical literacy — is central to the process of becoming a responsibly engaged global citizen. The Literature concentration enables you to connect your passionate study of literature with a lively engagement of the world beyond the Bryant campus. The literature minor complements other courses of study and teaches necessary critical-thinking skills.

Through Literature courses, you will develop reading, writing, and critical thinking skills that will prepare you for a variety of careers with nonprofit and government organizations, museums and art galleries, and in publishing, writing, marketing, and advertising. You will also be well prepared for an array of graduate programs and law schools.