20th-century British Literature
At UB, we take an approach to the study of 20th-century British literature that is fully attentive to the changes to the field brought about by related fields such as postcolonial studies and cultural studies. As the distinguished writer Caryl Phillips puts it in the introduction to the anthology Extravagant Strangers, "To my way of thinking, English literature has, for at least 200 years, been shaped and influenced by outsiders." Consequently, we stress the study of the canonical texts of 20th-century British literature alongside texts written by British writers of color, writers born outside of the United Kingdom, as well as the popular culture produced by these populations.
Students working in this field thus have the opportunity to pursue research across a range of related fields and to take advantage of faculty resources in a variety of departments.