Master of Arts in Literature Today
Utrecht University
Key Information
Campus location
Utrecht, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 year
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,209 / per year *
Application deadline
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Earliest start date
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* EU/EEA, Surinam or Swiss students; €17,500: International students
Scholarships
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Introduction
A Laboratory of Ideas, Reflection, and Narratives in the Digital Age
Do you wonder how a literary work becomes a classic or bestseller in the Digital Age? Would you like to learn about the steps taken between publishing a manuscript and the media reviews, talk shows, or blogs in which the work is discussed? Then this Master's program might be for you.
Literature today continues to inspire as a laboratory of ideas, dreams, and narratives, even while facing new challenges. Novels, poems, and short stories now reach their audiences through printed books, e-books, audiobooks, and the Internet. Literary texts, including the classics, are being adapted to games and TV dramas, yet a growing number of visitors to book fairs shows that literature itself remains a powerful medium.
In the Master’s program Literature Today, you will:
- Learn to identify and critically evaluate the most recent national and international developments in literature, and to situate these from a historical perspective.
- Be equipped with the tools to identify and explain the quality of literary works in times of increasing commercialization.
- Learn how literature circulates within the market as part of a creative industry sustained by a centuries-old tradition.
- Investigate from theoretical and practical angles how to help to spread literature, explain it to a broader public, and translate academic insights for the reading public.
Prepare for the Job Market
Critical reflection, building up a repertoire, the consolidation of writing skills, and an understanding of how literary institutions operate in an era of globalization are central to your studies during this program. You can also complete an internship with publishing houses, media corporations, libraries, literary foundations, or cultural institutions – the job market and professional field for which this Master’s program prepares you.
During the Master’s program, you will get to know different literary institutions that operate in the field of literature and culture. After finishing this program, you can use the academic and practical skills that you acquired during your year of study and begin working at one of these institutions.
The Master’s program in Literature Today prepares students for a broad spectrum of occupations that require expertise in literature and literary institutions. These can be in the fields of editing and publishing, organization and event management, journalism, education, archival and library services, or even research and research support.
Program Outcome
After Graduation
As a graduate of the Master in Literature Today, you will be trained to critically engage with the challenges that confront literature in our globalized, digitalized, and commercialized world. The program content approaches these challenges from both a theoretical and practical perspective so that you will be fully prepared for the job market.
After finishing the program, you can use the academic and practical skills acquired during your year of study and begin working at one of these institutions.
Curriculum
Tracks
You can choose from among the following tracks to tailor the programme to your interests and desired career path:
- English and Comparative Literature (entirely in English)
- Dutch Literature (in Dutch and English)
- a. French Literature (Modern Literature in European Languages)
- b. German Literature (Modern Literature in European Languages)
- d. Hispanic Literature (Modern Literature in European Languages)
Career Opportunities
During the Master’s program, you will get to know different literary institutions that operate in the field of literature and culture. After finishing this programme, you can use the academic and practical skills that you acquired during your year of study and begin working at one of these institutions.
The Master’s program in Literature Today prepares students for a broad spectrum of occupations that require expertise in literature and literary institutions. These can be in the fields of editing and publishing, organization and event management, journalism, education, archival and library services, or even research and research support.
Professional Careers
You will be an expert on literature today who can work at (inter)national publishing houses, cultural institutions – places like the British Council, the Flemish-Dutch cultural platform deBuren (Brussels), the cultural center deBalie (Amsterdam) – libraries, or bookshops, or in media, museums, theatres, or literary-cultural festivals. In a wider sense, you are prepared for a future career in the sectors of literature, culture, and communication.
Students (including students in the comparable precursor program Literatuur en cultuurkritiek at Utrecht University) have found employment in the following companies and institutions:
- Literature assistant at the British Council in London
- Deputy director at Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek
- Junior editor at the publishing house Coutinho
- Publishing assistant at The House of Books
- Freelance journalist
- Literature editor at the cultural web magazine CultuurBewust.nl
- Project manager marketing and digitalization, Overamstel Publishers
- Lecturer in the English Department, Utrecht University
Academic Careers
Usually, students of this Master’s program are not interested in pursuing an academic career and continuing on to a Ph.D., although this does happen occasionally. Several alumni of the precursor program are completing PhDs at international universities (in the UK and Portugal). If you are considering a Ph.D. in the disciplines of this Master’s program, the Research Master in Comparative Literary Studies might be of interest to you.