Literature Option

This list comprises 2023-24 courses in the Department of English that will be accepted for credit towards your Literature program.

This list applies only to these courses as they are offered in 2023-24. These courses in a different year may not necessarily count towards your Literature program; please check the list for the year in which you took the course.

Courses are listed below by the program requirements they fulfill.

Course descriptions may be found here: https://www.mcgill.ca/english/undergrad/2023-2024-undergraduate-courses.

Other ENGL courses than those listed here may sometimes fulfill the program requirements given below. If you note a course not listed that seems to fulfill a given requirement, please see an advisor.

Theory and Criticism:

ENGL 317, Theory of English Studies 1: Philosophical Approaches (fall)
ENGL 318, Theory of English Studies 2: Socio-Historical Approaches (fall)
ENGL 319, Cultural Theory Now (winter)
ENGL 320, Postcolonial Literature: What is Decolonization (fall)
ENGL 322, Theories of the Text: Concepts of Criticism, 1850-1950 (winter)

Major Author:

ENGL 315, Shakespeare (fall)
ENGL 316, Milton (fall)
ENGL 409, Studies in a Canadian Author: Alice Munro (fall)
ENGL 417, A Major English Poet: Spenser’s Faerie Queen (fall)
ENGL 418, A Major Modernist Writer: Elizabeth Bowen (winter)
ENGL 440, First Nations and Inuit Literature: Alootook Ipellie (winter)
ENGL 467, Advanced Studies in Theatre History: Bertolt Brecht (fall)

Literature Before 1800:

ENGL 301, Earlier 18th C Novel (winter)
ENGL 306, Theatre History: Medieval and Early Modern (winter)
ENGL 308, English Renaissance Drama 1 (winter)
ENGL 315, Shakespeare (fall)
ENGL 316, Milton (fall)
ENGL 347, Great Writings of Europe 1: Virgil and Ovid (winter)
ENGL 417, A Major English Poet: Spenser’s Faerie Queen (fall)
ENGL 461, Studies in Literary Theory 2: Eros, Confession, and Self-Construction in Autobiography and the Novel (fall)

Canadian Literature:

ENGL 229, Canadian Literature 2 (fall)
ENGL 313, Canadian Drama and Theatre (fall)
ENGL 333, Development of Canadian Poetry 2 (winter)
ENGL 378, Media and Culture: Introduction to Canadian Inuit, Métis and First Nations Literature, Video, and Film (fall)
ENGL 409, Studies in a Canadian Author: Alice Munro (fall)
ENGL 410, Theme or Movement in Canadian Literature: Curating Canadian Foodways (winter)
ENGL 440, First Nations and Inuit Literature: Alootook Ipellie (winter)

American Literature:

ENGL 225, American Literature 1: African American Literature before the Harlem Renaissance (fall)
ENGL 227, American Literature 3: American Fiction after 1945 (winter)
ENGL 371, Theatre History, 19th to 21st Centuries: U.S. Popular Entertainments, 1820-1940 (winter)
ENGL 437, Studies in Literary Form: The Concept of the Great American Novel (winter)
ENGL 438, Studies in Literary Form: Critical Race Readings of American Children’s Literature (winter)

Backgrounds of English Literature:

ENGL 347, Great Writings of Europe 1: Virgil and Ovid (winter)
ENGL 461, Studies in Literary Theory 2: Eros, Confession, and Self-Construction in Autobiography and the Novel (fall)

Old English:

Medieval:

ENGL 306, Theatre History: Medieval and Early Modern (winter)

Renaissance:

ENGL 306, Theatre History: Medieval and Early Modern (winter)
ENGL 308, English Renaissance Drama 1 (winter)
ENGL 315, Shakespeare (fall)
ENGL 316, Milton (fall)
ENGL 417, A Major English Poet: Spenser’s Faerie Queen (fall)

18C Literature:

ENGL 301, Earlier 18th C Novel (winter)
ENGL 461, Studies in Literary Theory 2: Eros, Confession, and Self-Construction in Autobiography and the Novel (fall)

Romantic:

Victorian:

ENGL 330, 19th Century Novel 2: Women’s Novels in the Victorian Period (fall)

19C American:

ENGL 225, American Literature 1: African American Literature before the Harlem Renaissance (fall)
ENGL 371, Theatre History, 19th to 21st Centuries: U.S. Popular Entertainments, 1820-1940 (winter)

Modern:

ENGL 227, American Literature 3: American Fiction after 1945 (winter)
ENGL 229, Canadian Literature 2 (fall)
ENGL 290, Introduction to Postcolonial and World Lit (fall)
ENGL 320: Postcolonial Literature: What is Decolonization? (fall)
ENGL 333, Development of Canadian Poetry 2 (winter)
ENGL 335, 20th-Century Novel 1: British Fiction (fall)
ENGL 414, Studies in 20th C Lit 1: Women in Modern Poetry (winter)
ENGL 418, A Major Modernist Writer: Elizabeth Bowen (winter)
ENGL 419, Studies in 20th C. Lit: Breaking the Sequence: Narrative Interventions in Early Twentieth-Century Modernist Fiction (fall)
ENGL 421, African Literature: South African Fiction and Histories of the Novel (winter)
ENGL 424, Irish Literature (winter)
ENGL 431, Studies in Drama: Latin American and Caribbean Theatre (winter)
ENGL 467, Advanced Studies in Theatre History: Bertolt Brecht (fall)

Contemporary:

ENGL 227, American Literature 3: American Fiction after 1945 (winter)
ENGL 229, Canadian Literature 2 (fall)
ENGL 290, Introduction to Postcolonial and World Lit (fall)
ENGL 320: Postcolonial Literature: What is Decolonization? (fall)
ENGL 333, Development of Canadian Poetry 2 (winter)
ENGL 409, Studies in a Canadian Author: Alice Munro (fall)
ENGL 421, African Literature: South African Fiction and Histories of the Novel (winter)
ENGL 424, Irish Literature (winter)
ENGL 431, Studies in Drama: Latin American and Caribbean Theatre (winter)
ENGL 440, First Nations and Inuit Literature: Alootook Ipellie (winter)
ENGL 443, Contemporary Women’s Fiction (fall)

Additional courses:

ENGL 360, Literary Criticism (fall)
ENGL 438, Studies in Literary Form: Critical Race Readings of American Children’s Literature (winter)
ENGL 460, Studies in Literary Theory: Theorizing the Comic (winter)
ENGL 490, Culture and Critical Theory 2: Introduction to Digital Humanities (winter)

In addition, all of the above courses can count as additional courses on the audit sheet if they are not fulfilling another particular requirement.