Early Modern English Literature: Books That Matter MA

King's College London, University of London

Our Early Modern English Literature MA is an innovative and exciting partnership between the Department of English at King’s and the British Library. The course focuses on the transmission of key early modern literary texts, investigating both the circulation of literary texts in manuscript and print and the way they were received. You will learn to read early modern handwriting, to transcribe neglected literary manuscripts and rare printed texts, and to edit them for the modern reader. In focusing on transmission alongside more traditional literary approaches, the course explores the impact of the materiality of the text and of the material conditions of its (re)production on the way it is interpreted. The Life of the Book: Constructing Knowledge at the British Library, a module taught at the British Library, will allow access to early modern print and manuscript material with a focus on the factors and people involved in their production, transmission and preservation in libraries and private collections.