English Literature - Working with others
English Literature staff have developed a number
of working relationships with others, locally, regionally,
nationally and internationally. A Level 2 module is dedicated
to graduate employability, as part of which students undertake a
fifteen-day work placement to try out the kinds of work which
English Literature graduates might go on to do. These include
teaching in a range of local schools and colleges
(including Park Grove Primary School, York; Woldgate School,
Pocklington; Filey School and Newman School, Carlisle.) and a
regular placement with a York-based national arts magazine. Others
have found work experience with Vogue magazine and The Daily Telegraph. Every year
we welcome international students from a range of countries
including Norway, Spain, and the United States – this has enabled
us to build working relationships with academic colleagues in Oslo,
Bergen, Tarragona and New York State – all places where our own
undergraduates have an opportunity to study as part of their
programme. Locally, English Literature staff and students have been
involved with events such as the York Literary
Festival and the world-renowned Mystery Plays.
Aesthetica magazine is a York-based
publication run by two York St John graduates. Established in 2003,
it is billed as ‘the UK’s only art publication to view the arts as
an interdisciplinary whole and covers visual art, literature,
music, theatre and film in every issue’. Not only has the magazine
provided placement opportunities for students, the editor, herself
a former student here, has addressed students and staff at
conferences organised at the University with a specific focus on
employability.
Other journalism opportunities have arisen with
the local newspaper, the York Press, and
the Whitby
Gazette.
A working relationship has also been developed
with Shandy Hall at
Coxwold, owned by the Laurence Sterne Trust. Once the home of
the author of the eighteenth-century classic Tristram
Shandy, the house is now a museum and exhibition space.
Tristram Shandy is described by Penguin publishers as a
‘strange, eccentric, endlessly complex masterpiece’ (publishers’
blurb), and by critic Christopher Ricks as ‘the greatest shaggy dog
story in the language’ (1967: 7). A visit to Shandy Hall gives
students the chance to see the largest collection of editions of
Sterne’s work in the world, and to see illustrations of his
books.
In addition to theatre visits, students on the
Level 3 Shakespeare course may have the opportunity to spend a day
at Bolling
Hall, Bradford, described as ‘one of Bradford’s most precious
jewels’ and parts of which date back to the fifteenth century.
Here, students can observe and participate in live performance
activities.
One of our international partners is
Union College, Schenectady in New York
state. In addition to our students going to study at Union, each
year a group of their students is accompanied by a member of staff
to spend a semester at York St John. This has resulted in
productive collaboration between literature tutors from both
institutions.