History and English

专业详情

A joint degree in History and English requires students to think critically about how we define ‘history’ and ‘literature’, and about how the two disciplines interrelate and, to a large extent, overlap. Close attention is given to changing methodologies, to the nature of evidence and to styles of argument. It is assumed that historical documents are just as much ‘texts’ as poems, plays or novels, and are therefore subject to interpretation as works of narrative, rhetoric and, fundamentally, language. In turn, it is assumed that poems, plays and novels represent historically-grounded ways of interpreting a culture. Interdisciplinary study has become a thriving area in its own right as scholars have moved away from what would once have been thought of as ‘purely’ historical or literary criticism to a more comparative way of thinking about the written records of the past (including, of course, the very recent past).

The History and English Faculties are among the largest in Britain, with long and distinguished traditions of teaching and research. Students are offered a great deal of choice in the course over their three years, and whether their interests are in the medieval period, the Renaissance, or the later periods, intellectually fruitful combinations are always possible.

The course structure at Oxford is intended to enable students to relate literary and historical ideas as effectively as possible in the investigation of their chosen historical periods, topics or authors, while recognising that some students will wish to opt for variety rather than close congruity between their historical and literary papers. An interdisciplinary approach is embedded in each year of the course, with dedicated classes in the first year as part of the Introduction to English Language and Literature paper, a bridge paper taken in the second year (examined by extended essay) and an interdisciplinary dissertation in the final year. All interdisciplinary elements of this course are co-taught or co-supervised by a historian and a literary scholar.

Oxford possesses exceptional library provision for both subjects in the Bodleian Library, the History Faculty and English Faculty libraries, other faculty libraries and the college libraries.