English Literature
Why this program?
The UZH English Department has four chairs (i.e. professors) in English Literature, offering the broadest range of courses among Swiss universities. The UZH Master program in English Literature is designed to offer a great deal of flexibility to advanced students wishing to deepen their engagement with anglophone literatures from the Early Modern period to the present.
Students will consolidate their understanding of theoretical debates (incl. their historical development). Key areas of study include intermediality and audiovisual culture; the relation between literary history, identity, and collective memory; and the politics of literary representation – e.g. in relation to gender or (post-)colonial power structures.
What can I do with it later?
The Master programs in English Literature prepare students for later employment in a wide range of areas. Moreover, graduates with a strong academic record will have the option of pursuing a PhD and thus lay the basis for a possible career in higher education.
Many of our Alumni/Alumnae work at Swiss Maturitätsschulen. In addition, former students of English have been employed by:
- multinational banks
- Switzerland’s largest TV station
- local as well as national newspapers
- various types of NGOs
- cultural institutions (such as museums or foundations for the arts)
- in other sectors of the economy (e.g. in high-tech companies: responsible for PR materials and user manuals)
What will I learn?
In English Literature, students will develop their ability to describe aesthetic phenomena with great precision and increasing nuance, contextualizing works of literature in the broader cultural field and situating their own interpretations within specific critical debates.
In addition, the UZH Master program in English Literature includes advanced writing and media studies modules. By the end of their studies, students will thus have acquired all the necessary skills to conduct independent scholarly work.
