BRITISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE
The state examination consists of an oral and a written part.
The oral part is a defence of the MA thesis; the defence is a conversation with the members of the examination committee about issues related to the thesis. The conversation takes as its starting point the two questions formulated as part of the thesis supervisor’s evaluation of the thesis. These questions are known to the student beforehand.
The written part of the state exam is an in-class paper that consists of two essays. Students have to choose two required-optional subjects (thematic blocks) that s/he has completed as part of the British Literary and Cultural Studies Track, and a course within each subject. The two courses cannot belong to the same subject. The written part of the state exam consists in the material of the courses chosen: students will have to elaborate on two essay questions which address broad issues and correspondences.
After the student has registered her/his choice, the instructors will formulate two questions (that is, in-class essay titles) per course. The student has to choose one of the two questions offered by each instructor and elaborate on the topic indicated in the title. The written examination, thus, consists of two essays, both taking ninety minutes, based on these questions.
Subjects (thematic blocks) and readings:
Gender studies
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge, 1990. Mills, Sarah, ed. Language and Gender – Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Harlow: Longman, 1985.
Post-1945 British Fiction and Film Ashby, Justin – Andrew Higson (ed.). British Cinema, Past and Present. London: Routledge, 2000. Sinfield, Alan. Literature, Politics and Culture in Postwar Britain. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
Post-1945 British Poetry, Drama and Theatre Acheson, James and Romana Huk, ed. Contemporary British Poetry: Essays in Theory and Criticism. New York: State U of New York P, 1996.
Shellard, Dominic. British Theatre Since the War. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2000.
Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage, 1994. Young, Robert. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
Advanced Topics in Literary and Cultural Theory Culler, Jonathan. On Deconstruction. Theory and Criticism after Structuralism. London: Routledge, 1989. During, Simon, ed. The Cultural Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 1999
Avanced Topics in British and Irish Literature and Culture Connolly, Claire, ed. Theorizing Ireland. New York: Palgrave, 2003. Waugh, Patricia (ed.). Postmodernism: A Reader. London: Arnold, 1996.
Advanced Topics in Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures Lane, Richard. The Postcolonial Novel. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006. Aschcroft, Bill, Gareth Grififith és Helen Tiffin: The Empire Writes Back. London: Routledge, 1994.
Advanced Topics in Popular Literature and Culture Huyssen, Andreas. After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1986. Storey, John. Cultural Theory, Popular Culture : An Introduction. New York : Longman, 2000.
Major Figures in British and Irish Literature and Culture Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford UP, 2006. Connor, Steven. The English Novel in History, 1950-1955. London: Routledge, 1996.
Alternative Approaches to British and Irish Literature and Culture Butler, Judith. The Psychic Life of Power. Theories in Subjection. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford UP, 1997. Mulhern, Francis. Culture/Metaculture The New Critical Idiom. London: Routledge, 2000.
Visuality and Literature Mirzoeff, Nicholas, ed. The Visual Culture Reader. London : Routledge, 2002. Stam, Robert, and Toby Miller. Film and Theory. Oxford, Malden: Blackwell, 2000.
LINGUISTICS/ APPLIED LINGUISTICS
The final exam consists of an oral and a written test.
The written test consists of two essay questions, which the candidate freely chooses out of three questions. This part of the final exam tests the candidate' general knowledge of basic linguistic principles. See the list of topics and the associated literature here (for students starting the MA program in 2022 or later). (The previous list.)
The oral test is a defense of the MA thesis; the defense is a conversation with the members of the examination committee about the thesis. The conversation takes as its starting point the two questions the candidate receives from their supervisor in the written evaluation of the thesis before the final exam.
For further information about the M.A. in Linguistics, please contact Erzsébet Balogh.