The course aims to allow students to deepen their knowledge of British and American literature by focusing on specific writers, genres, or themes in the context of literary history and criticism. They will be introduced to current debates on issues such as narrative form, gender, colonialism and postcoloniality, modernity, globality and cosmopolitanism, as well as the place of the “canon” in literary studies. The course will enhance students’ ability to analyse and interpret British and American literary production (including fiction, poetry, and drama), through discussions of form, style, innovations on traditional creative paradigms and themes. Students will generate critical and creative responses to these texts, through the writing of essays and creative pieces.