MA Literature & Culture
Dublin, Ireland
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 22,600 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for non-EU students | EUR 9330 - for EU students
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
The MA in Literature & Culture is our flagship MA programme in English-language literature and culture. Students work with leading international scholars and world-class teachers, who have expertise in a wide range of areas, from the literature of the Middle Ages to the modern and contemporary. The programme provides an intensive combination of taught courses and supervised research, designed to develop students’ skills and confidence as scholars and critics of literature and its contexts. Current courses include seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, 18th and 19th-Century literature and culture, Contemporary American Poetics, Modernism, World Literature, Social Network Analysis, and Research Methods.
The supervised dissertation gives you the unique opportunity to work closely on a topic of your choosing with published experts in your field of interest. All students take the core module Research Methods, and can choose other modules in a variety of areas, including British, American, and World Literature.
Recent courses have included:
- Chaucer and the Fourteenth Century
- American Modernism at Home
- Re-reading the Renaissance
- American Lyric: Document and Memoir
- Memory Cultures
- Feeling Modern: Thinking and Being in 18th and 19th-Century Britain
- Social Network Analysis and Fiction
- World-Systems, World-Literature: Mapping the Planet
- Contemporary U.S. Genre Fiction: Intersection, Disruption, Protest
- Concepts of Modernity
This programme is of interest to anyone who has a passion for literature and cultural production in English. It will suit those who want to put a ‘capstone’ on their BA work, but also those who are considering a PhD.
Applications are invited for the Annie Fanning Memorial Scholarship (Irish Literature) for
2026-27. The scholarship provides a €5,000 bursary to the successful candidate, enabling
them to pursue the MA Literature and Culture in the UCD School of English, Drama and
Film. Applicants must have already accepted a place on the MA programme.
Applicants will be required to submit a personal statement, together with a CV and UCD ID
number. The statement should include an outline of their interest in Irish literary and/or
Irish cultural materials and their plans to develop this interest at MA level. Applicants should also reflect on how receipt of this award will help them to overcome barriers to education and achieve their personal and academic goals.
An academic panel from the UCD School of English, Drama and Film will select the successful applicant. In making the decision, equal weight will be given to the personal statement and the academic record of the applicant. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the cultural life of the School of English, Drama and Film at UCD.
Please be aware that a part-time student, if successful, may only be the award recipient
once during their two year programme.
Applications should be sent graduateedf@ucd.ie, by early August 2026 using the subject line ‘Annie Fanning Memorial Scholarship (Irish Literature)’. It is expected that the award decision will be circulated late August 2026.
Students on the MA in Literature Culture undertake six taught modules (10 credits each) and one research project (30-credit dissertation):
Taught Modules (60 credits):
• Public Humanities is a core (compulsory) 10-credit module.
• There is a range of option 10-credit modules to choose the other five modules (50 credits) from.
In past years these have included the following:
Theory of Gender and Sexuality
World-Systems, World Literature: Mapping the Planet
Digital Methods
James Joyce: Ulysses
Material Girls: Crafty Women Across Literary History
The Tradition and the Contemporary
Queer Frictions: Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Literature & Culture
Un/Settling Global Literatures
Stardom, Celebrity and Media Culture
(These modules are subject to availability and may change from year to year.)
Dissertation module:
This module enables students to develop a 15,000 word research project and write on a special topic of their own choice (subject to the agreement of the MA Co-ordinator), under the supervision of a member of the supervisory panel (30 credits).
- Articulate knowledge, arguments, and ideas clearly and effectively through essays, presentations, and proposals
- Be effective independent researchers who can identify a viable research topic and develop this into a research project.
- Demonstrate a developed awareness of historical contexts, theoretical positions, and the range of literary and/or cultural production appropriate to their chosen specialization.
- Demonstrate an enhanced knowledge of literary and cultural analysis, including methodology, in their chosen disciplines and fields.
- Demonstrate mastery of advanced techniques in the use of archival and digital resources.
- Demonstrate their facility as readers, thinkers, and writers, with advanced skills in detailed textual analysis and close reading
- Make connections across different time periods and cultures, and identify key aesthetic/cultural/social movements in their chosen specialization.
Recent graduates are working in the following areas:
- Arts, culture, heritage & museums
- Media/publishing/broadcasting/journalism
- Charities / NGOs / International Aid
- Business /HR/ training
- Public sector – government/EU
Some students have also progressed to and successfully completed a PhD study.