Professor Lee Edelman, Chair; Fletcher Professor of English Literature; Literary theory, film studies, modern poetry
Professor Elizabeth Ammons, Harriet H. Fay Professor of Literature; American literature, women writers
Professor Jay Cantor, History of consciousness, modernism, creative writing
Professor Deborah Digges, Modern poetry, creative writing
Professor Carol Flynn, Eighteenth-century British literature
Professor John M. Fyler, Chaucer, medieval literature
Professor Joseph Litvak, Nineteenth-century British literature
Professor Jonathan Wilson, Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate; American literature, creative writing
Associate Professor Linda Bamber, Women and literature, Shakespeare
Associate Professor Kevin Dunn, Renaissance literature
Associate Professor Sheila Emerson, Victorian literature
Associate Professor Judith Haber, Renaissance literature
Associate Professor Sonia Hofkosh, British romantic literature
Associate Professor Virginia Jackson, Nineteenth-century American literature
Associate Professor Modhumita Roy, World literature in English
Associate Professor Christina Sharpe, Multiethnic literature
Assistant Professor Lecia Rosenthal, Twentieth-century British modernism
Lecturer Jonathan Strong, Creative writing
Lecturer Michael Ullman, Expository writing

The Department of English offers a wide range of courses in British, American, and world literatures in English; film; literary theory; and creative writing. Though diverse, these offerings are unified by the study of textual production and the styles and practices of writing in English. Courses in the department examine literary works in their most illuminating contexts: historical, social, philosophical, and political. The department's courses in expository and creative writing enable students to refine their skills through reading, frequent writing assignments, and discussion.

The department serves the interests of students who plan to become teachers or writers of literature, as well as those preparing for other professions that put a high premium on cultural analysis, effective writing, symbolic interpretation, or media studies. Among the fields our students commonly enter are law, diplomacy, journalism, public-relations, publishing, and film-making. Students who have majored (or double-majored) in English are also seen as especially attractive candidates by medical and business schools. Our courses are central to a liberal arts education, regardless of anticipated career, because they instill a mastery of critical thinking, linguistic analysis, and persuasive communication in a world that increasingly demands that we not only read but also read through the representations that we encounter.

Undergraduate Concentration Requirements
English majors work out a sequence of courses in consultation with their advisers. A list of approved courses for each category is available online through the English department Web site: http://ase.tufts.edu/english. Students must take ten courses listed or cross-listed in the department above English 1, 2, 3, and 4 as follows:

1) One survey course:

a. English 20 “Black World Literature” (formerly English 36)

b. English 21 “General View of English Literature I” (formerly English 51)

c. English 22 “General View of English Literature II” (formerly English 52)

d. English 23 “Continuity of American Literature” (formerly English 59)

2) Two non-survey classes in American, British, or other Anglophone literature written before 1860, including at least one course in British literature. No more than one course used to fulfill this part of the requirement may be on Shakespeare. A list of approved courses for this category is available at this link: http://ase.tufts.edu/english/undergrad/majorreq.html.

3) Two non-survey courses in American, British, or Anglophone literature written after 1860. A list of approved courses for this category is available at this link: http://ase.tufts.edu/english/undergrad/majorreq.html.

In constructing their majors, students are expected to work with their advisers to design a coherent but wide-ranging course of study. English majors should take survey courses early in their academic career in order to establish the necessary foundation for more advanced classes. We encourage all students majoring in English to explore the full historical range of offerings; to investigate the spectrum of textual differences to be found in the study of Anglophone literatures, film, and oral traditions; and to include exposure to recent approaches in English studies, such as women's studies, literary theory, historical materialism, and cultural studies. With the help of their advisers, English majors should seek to create programs of study that expand their knowledge and challenge their preconceptions.

Undergraduate Minor Program
The minor in English requires students to take six courses in the department above English 1, 2, 3, and 4. The purpose of the minor is to allow students to experiment widely, or to follow a particular interest with some concentration. Therefore, each minor will be individual not only in content but also in concept. All students should try, however, to include at least one course numbered below 100 and one above 100 and should consult with faculty members as they pursue their minors. Beginning with the class of 2007, students may count a maximum of three creative writing courses towards fulfillment of the minor in English.

Graduate Program
The graduate program in English, American, and Anglophone world literature is varied and flexible. It offers special opportunities for literary analysis with a focus on cultural studies, literary theory, and topics in gender, race, and politics. Many of the department's period, genre, and interdisciplinary courses lend themselves to a broadly conceived program in literature and culture, including interdisciplinary work. Approved courses in other departments may be taken to that end. Fall admission only.

More information can be found at this link: http://ase.tufts.edu/english/graduate/program.html

Master of Arts
Master’s candidates are required to complete six semester courses, with the expectation that they will enroll in three graduate seminars per semester. Because doctoral degree candidates are required to take a comprehensive examination in their third year, students are advised to take courses that offer them breadth as well as depth. At the end of the master of arts year, they will take a written examination to demonstrate their critical and analytical skills. One month before the examination they will be assigned two texts to prepare. The examination will test their ability to integrate critical, theoretical, and contextual analyses of the texts.

At the end of the academic year, the full faculty will consider the master’s candidates individually, focusing on the results of their master’s examination, their academic records at Tufts, and the recommendations of the faculty who have taught them. On the basis of this appraisal the department will recommend whether or not the candidate should be granted the master of arts; it will also determine whether or not the candidate should be admitted to candidacy in the doctoral degree program.

The required reading knowledge of a foreign language must be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Graduate Committee (usually by an examination taken at Tufts University) in order to complete the requirements for the Master of Arts degree.

Students holding teaching assistantships in their second year of graduate work are normally expected to complete the requirements for the master of arts before taking up the appointment.

Doctor of Philosophy
Admission to the doctoral degree program is open to students who have completed with distinction the requirements for the master's degree in English. Decisions about candidacy for the doctoral degree are made after the master of arts written examination.

In the second and third years, doctoral candidates will be offered the opportunity to increase their comprehensive mastery while they begin to concentrate on one particular area or subject. Given that most students will be teaching assistants at this time, it is assumed that they will take four courses each year. Normally, these courses will be chosen from among the graduate seminars offered in the department, but advanced level undergraduate classes may be counted with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

At the end of the third year or in the beginning of the fall semester of the fourth year, each student will take a two-hour oral comprehensive examination. The examining committee will consist of three faculty members, one of whom, the chair, has been selected by the student as someone familiar with the student's work in class. In most cases, the graduate student will already have spoken with this faculty member about serving as director of her or his dissertation.

No standardized list of texts is issued for this examination. The graduate program is small and one advantage of its size is that students' individual interests can be accommodated. It is not the purpose of the examination to have everyone do the same thing. Instead, it is the purpose of the examination to test each student's range and breadth of knowledge. Therefore the following guideline of periods and areas of concentration is to be used by each student to generate a foundation list of works in each period or area for which he or she will be responsible. This list is not intended to be exhaustive or exclusive; not everything the student has read will show up on the list. Critical works on periods and texts will be included on each list. This list of specific titles should be arrived at in consultation with individual faculty members and with the director of the graduate program. The list must be submitted to the director of the graduate program in English at least three months before the oral examination.

Periods and areas of concentration for the doctoral degree comprehensive examination are the following: Old English, Medieval Literature, Sixteenth-Century British Literature, Seventeenth-Century British Literature, Eighteenth-Century British Literature, American Literature before 1820, Nineteenth-Century British Literature, Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Twentieth-Century British Literature, Twentieth-Century American Literature, Contemporary World Literature, Literary Critical Theory. Each student will select eight of the periods or areas for particular development for the comprehensive examination. Two of those fields will be fulfilled by coursework completed in graduate school. The other six will be the focus of the comprehensive oral examination. Students who do not pass the oral examination, in whole or in part, may take the examination again at a later date.

In order to complete the doctoral degree, each student is required to demonstrate by examinations or courses taken at Tufts an ability to read two foreign languages (one of which was necessary in order to fulfill the requirements for the Master of Arts). Alternatively, doctoral candidates may complete with a passing grade at least one graduate-level course in a foreign literature. It is generally expected that this course will be done in a body of literature which is relevant to the student's graduate study.

Once the student has passed the oral comprehensive, he or she will prepare a prospectus for the dissertation. This must take place not later than six months after the oral examination.

To gain experience in teaching, students in the doctoral program must also assist in undergraduate instruction, usually as readers or teaching assistants, during their two-year period of residency