English literature

Our researchers investigate the way creativity gets to work in literary texts and in daily life.

We cover Old Norse epic to contemporary experimental verse, analysing, in each period, how a culture is represented and changed by its literature. We’re activists, strong on deep dives into intra-disciplinary topics, from which we develop innovative projects to make our society fair, innovative, and beautiful.

We have cross-period strengths in the inter-relationships of texts and images, in the connections between science and literature, in gender, in race, and in digital cultures. We have particular period expertise from the 1800s to now, profiting from our city’s industrial, cultural, and political significance.

For instance, Professor Radhika Mohanram’s large AHRC-funded project, Refugee Wales: The Afterlife of Violence, works with the National Museum of Wales to interview refugees about their experience of war, flight and integration into a new society. This started with a scholarly investigation into how trauma and memory studies deal with non-Western subjects; it will end with better public understanding and policymaking.