Department of English

When the Great Library of Alexandria burned, it wasn’t just 40,000 scrolls that were lost; entire imaginative universes went up in smoke. Literature provides the materials we use to build and remake worlds. And it allows us to reimagine the world — as it was, is and might be. Our distinguished faculty and award-winning writers teach the ways of language through its history up to today, and together we imagine its future. We share a core that explores literary history, literary analysis, and critical method, and then emphasize either Literature or Creative Writing, using each to enhance the other. Our innovative Narrative Studies major is interdisciplinary across the entire university.