English Language and Literature
The English Department at King’s is home to a diverse and dynamic group of internationally-recognised academics working in a range of areas of literature and culture from the 7th to the 21st centuries.
The Guardian University Guide 2011 ranked us in the top ten English Departments. This continues a distinguished history of excellence in literary studies dating back to the 19th century: King's was among the first institutions in the world to teach English.
In addition to period expertise, trans-historical strengths of the department include: material and visual cultures, American studies, performance studies, postcolonial studies, medical humanities, cultural theory, creative writing, gender and queer theory, media history and the theory and practice of lifewriting.
Teaching is at the heart of what we do, and we seek, at all levels, to encourage forms of critical thinking that have a wide application in the contemporary world. While fully committed to the study of literature, we are also attentive to the wider powers of narrative and metaphor as they shape political discourse, our sense of history and everyday life.
To study and teach English on the Strand is to be reminded continually of the way writers construct the histories of places. The literary and cultural associations of our location, both then and now, allow us to develop teaching and research partnerships with institutions around us such as the Globe Theatre, the Courtauld Institute, the Royal Society of Literature, and the British Museum.