Literature is the story of human aspirations and our search for meaning through words. But it is even more than that: to study literature is also to reflect on who we have been, and what we have felt and thought over the course of human history, and to study literature is to come to a greater understanding of these things. The history of literature is a series of revolutions and continuities. As the famous literary critic René Welleck wrote, literature asserts the human “defiance of time and destiny, [and] victory over impermanence, relativity and history.” Because it is the product of imagination and intellect, literature not only documents and interprets, it also proposes, explores, and creates new worlds and new possibilities. By studying literature you can learn to think both critically and creatively, to evaluate, to articulate your ideas, and to refine your writing. All of these possibilities are there for the student of literature to explore.
Our program has a very strong literature track, which not only provides students with a solid foundation in the major periods and genres of British and American Literatures but also a variety of options that they can choose to supplement this foundation. Students can enrich their study of English with a wide range of literatures in English, from Old English literature to 21st-century authors. We also regularly offer courses in Literature of US Minorities, Caribbean and Postcolonial Literatures, Modern Poetry and Drama, Modern British and US Literature, Romanticism, the Renaissance, and the Medieval Period. Moreover, the Literature Track also has a strong writing component, so that students who specialize on the Literature track are trained to be skilled writers. Many majors who have graduated from this program have proceeded to graduate study at excellent international institutions, such as the University of Cambridge, the University of Toronto, Belfast University, Cornell University, and the University of Massachusetts. Many have also gone on to be lawyers, film-makers, and journalists, in addition to teachers and professors.
For more information please contact the Coordinator of the Literature Track
Nandita Batra (nandita.batra@upr.edu).