This module is intended to give you the opportunity, as an undergraduate student studying English Literature and/or History, to explore 100 years of children’s literature, starting in the twentieth century and finishing in the present day. It will offer an introduction to an exciting range of texts (fairy tales, fantasies, fables, adventure stories and nonsense rhymes), and will encourage discussions and debates about the uses children’s literature makes of different media: visual, sonic, tactile, filmic and digital. In addition to lectures and seminars, there will be the chance to view manuscripts in London’s rich archives, to visit museums, and to investigate how the capital’s sites and spaces have inspired the creation of imaginative worlds. The module will develop your knowledge of a variety of interpretative approaches, including psychoanalysis, Marxism, gender theory, narratology and new historicism. It will also have a strong creative component where you will be given the chance to devise, and perform, your own children’s stories.

This module will consist of a minimum of 45 contact hours with teaching taking place between 9 am and 5 pm from Monday to Friday.