Program Overview

Culture and Text: 'Imagined Communities'

Overview

Our Culture and Text short course introduces students to the study of written cultures across a variety of periods and language-speaking areas. The initial emphasis will be on the novel, but we will also explore other textual artefacts such as drama, poetry, the essay, and other discursive texts. Students will gain the skills to analyse different textual media, learn about their histories, and how they have developed differently in different cultural contexts. They will also engage with significant theoretical ideas in the study of written cultures.

A key aim of the course is to enable students to understand and engage with cultures comparatively, allowing them to compare and contrast histories and cultural production across more than one language-speaking area. The course is divided into six parts:

• Studying the Novel: Introduction, Histories, Key Skills, Theories, Genres
• Studying Texts
• Studying Poetry
• Studying Drama
• Studying the Essay
• Texts, Rhetoric and Propaganda

Assessment is via a 1500-word essay (50%) and 1500-word take-home test (50%).

Classes

The course will run from Monday 27 April to Monday 06 July 2026, 6pm-9pm, for 10 sessions.

Fees

The tuition fee for this course is £1575. Students are charged a tuition fee for each module at enrolment. Module fees for students continuing on their programme in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases.

Entry Requirements

Most of our short courses have no formal entry requirements and are open to all students. This short course has no prerequisites. As part of the enrolment process, students may be required to submit a copy of a suitable form of ID. International students who wish to come to the UK to study a short course can apply for a Visitor visa.

How to Apply

Students register directly onto the classes they would like to take. Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. If students wish to take more than one short course, they can select each one separately and then register onto them together.

Credits and Level

This course is worth 30 credits at level 4 and can be taken as a standalone short course or as a part of the Culture and Language (French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish) Certificate of Higher Education.