This area of the major introduces you to the advanced study of narrative in literary and popular culture within historical and social contexts. We pay particular attention to the nuances of linguistic expression, the traffic between words and images, the nature of literary genres, and the impact of contemporary technology on our storytelling traditions. We also develop analytical approaches to texts that allow us to understand their emergence from and impact on thought in the English language.

The English literature and language curriculum is organized around a sequence of core courses and enriched by a generous variety of electives.

The core courses initiate students into the major, introducing the principle genres of narrative form: drama, fiction, poetry, and non-fiction prose. These intensive writing courses help you develop analytic and expressive skills that can be applied to your broader education and to pursuits in other fields.

Indiana University’s literature and language faculty are nationally and internationally-known specialists in a wide range of areas and fields of interest: from Beowulf and Chaucer through 21st century authors such as Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and Junot Diaz. Drawing on a variety of methodologies and approaches, our faculty invites you to read and analyze fiction, poetry, drama, and essays as great art, as bearers of ideology, as mass media, and as popular entertainment.

Meet the faculty