Art and English Literature

Our BA Art and English Literature degree lets you engage in substantial practical work in the studio, develop your understanding of ideas and theories in contemporary art, and explore English literature from every era and across the globe.

You will see how debates across the creative arts are reflected dynamically across the two subjects.

Join a lively community at Reading School of Art. You can explore a vast range of media, experiment with emerging art forms and develop as an artist. You will complement your practical art with modules in contemporary art theory and the history of art. The studios are busy places with regular events, screenings, performances and exhibitions. You will receive a dedicated space, accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and a studio tutor to help develop your individual and professional practice.

Trips to museums and art galleries help prompt thoughts on how art is displayed and received. You will gain professional experience by participating in your own exhibitions, public art commissions, and events. Your teaching staff are artists, curators, and researchers of international standing, and they will encourage regular exhibitions and open debate.

In your English literature modules, you will read more authors and genres you may already know (from tragedy to Gothic, from Shakespeare and Dickens to Plath and Beckett). However, you will also encounter aspects of literary studies that may be less familiar to you, from children’s literature to publishing studies and the history of the book. Our academics have published research on everything from medieval poetry to contemporary American fiction.

For more information, please visit the programme page: https://www.reading.ac.uk/ready-to-study/study/subject-area/art-ug/ba-art-and-english-literature