"Print Culture 1700-1900" is a Master's program in English which offers students the opportunity to focus on the changing role of printed texts in an emerging commercial society. During the period, the contours of the now familiar categories of literary studies -- author, reader, text -- were hotly contested, together with the very definition of literature itself. The program is designed to rethink "literariness" and to examine material textuality as it is formed through production, dissemination, and reception of printed, visual, and oral/aural works.

By integrating a variety of theoretical methods with a wide range of historical contexts and resources, the program will introduce students to existing critical debates in ways that will challenge them to develop their own interpretive skills and interests. The interdisciplinary focus of the program reflects the recent shift towards cultural studies approaches to literature generally. In doing so it creates an interpretive space within which the assumptions of the various approaches can themselves be foregrounded as the basis of critical debate.

Courses will take into account the mutually defining relations between textuality and a variety of cultural fields, including the aesthetic, the literary, the public sphere, economics, sexuality, gender, religion, class, race, and nation. Students are encouraged to explore a variety of theoretical perspectives and to pursue their own research interests within the parameters of the program.

The program reflects the shared interests of scholars working in the 18th and 19th centuries and situates itself within broader academic discourses. The aim of the program is to provide graduate students with a multi-faceted research community that will meet their academic needs and interests by offering:

• Course requirements combining six graduate seminars with a research paper
• Integrated seminars with students and faculty in other departments
• Conferences and guest lecturers that will reflect the primary interests of the program
• Institutional links with similar programs and academic societies in other universities
• An electronic research project

Print Culture course outlines are now ready and can be viewed here.

The program is designed to offer students more than a focused M.A. degree. In addition to belonging to a community of faculty and other graduate students with shared critical interests, students in the program will be able to participate in a research community with visiting speakers, conferences organized around themes that develop out of the concerns of the program and a hyper-text program. Co-operative links being pursued with focus groups in other disciplines and institutions both locally and internationally will enable us to attract a series of engaging guest speakers and to broaden students' educational opportunities.

The technological focus of the program recognizes technology as a tool, medium and metaphor in the study of print culture and reflects Simon Fraser's reputation as an innovative leader in the use of technology in both the classroom and research. In the five centuries since the invention of the Gutenberg press, print has been the primary means of shaping culture and society. Today, however, it is no longer necessary to use only print to study books, writing and print culture. Electronic technologies enable us to store, organize, search and analyze larger quantities of data with increasing speed and with different goals in mind.  Digital processing, archiving, and transmission of print resources is changing the very forms of knowledge and information which constitute our values, tastes, and judgements.  Students in the program will be encouraged to make use of digitized print sources as well as other electronic resources and media.  They will also have opportunities to experiment in translating print into digital forms.  The use of computers is designed to cultivate basic and practical computer skills necessary in today's world.  The technological focus aims to help students understand the printed artefact itself as a product of technology while developing a heigthened historical consciousness and new theoretical insights into print culture.

The program will appeal both to students seeking to go on to doctoral studies and to those taking the M.A. as their final degree. It will provide a solid background in a growing theoretical and research field by offering students a combined emphasis on seminar discussions and independent research. Students graduating from the program will have experience in such areas as:

• research methods
• various modes of writing
• instructional technologies
• oral presentation in a variety of venues and
• conference organization

Leith Davis. Literature of the Romantic Era, Scottish and Irish Literature, 1700-1830, Nationalism, Folk Music.
Paul Delany. Literature and Economics, English Literature, 1880-1920, George Gissing.
Carole Gerson. 19th-Century Canadian Literature and Literary History, Women and Literature.
Mary Ann Gillies. Late 19th- and 20th-Century British Literature.
Mason Harris. Victorian Novel, Romantic Period, Fantasy and Science Fiction, African Fiction, Psychological Interpretations of Literature.
Margaret Linley. 19th-Century Literature, Women Poets, Literary Annuals..
Betty Schellenberg. Restoration and 18th-Century Literature, Women and Print Culture, Sequelization.
June Sturrock. Romantic Poetry, English Novel, Women in Victorian Literature
 

Program Affiliate

For further information:

Graduate Studies in English at Simon Fraser