Our staff teaches across a broad range of English Studies - from the literature and culture of the Renaissance period to contemporary English, Scottish and Irish writing as well the New Literatures in English; from English literary and cultural theory to gender studies and postcolonial studies; from cultural history to popular culture. We aim to provide you with a stimulating environment in which you can develop your interests and skills in all areas of English Literature as well as Cultural Studies. The wealth of superb resources in the SUB (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek) which hosts the special subject collections for English and American literature of the German Research Foundation, and the outstanding eighteenth-century collections at the university research library further contribute to make Göttingen attractive for students of English. The research interests of the members of staff include among others the key areas of Shakespeare Studies, Romanticism, Victorian Studies, Modernism and Postmodernism; Gender Studies, Scottish Studies, Postcolonialism, Book History and Travel Writing.

• deals with the literature(s) and culture(s) of the United States of America, Canada, and the countries that were or have been in close cultural contact with North America
• integrates the study of American literature within the study of American culture
• investigates specific historical formations that span from the first colonial encounters between European and Native (North) American populations in the 16th century to the distinct societies of the United States and Canada in the 21st century.
• analyzes and conceptualizes American literature and culture in connection with areas such as American religion, American politics, American sports, American popular culture, American film, or American legal culture
• puts a particular emphasis on media studies and thus focuses on the way media representations (such as film, TV, graphic novels, or photography) both reflect, shape, and influence American culture
• teaches skills in textual analysis
• introduces students to (American) cultural studies by discussing various cultural and literary theories

Medieval English Studies at Göttingen is an interdisciplinary subject, combining cultural studies with literary criticism, history, linguistics, paleography and codicology. Our approach treats the medieval text as a phenomenon which deserves to be studied, criticised and edited from its originality with a universal transcultural empathy adequate to the twenty-first century. The course offers a wide range of opportunities for students, covering the literary and linguistic developments of specifically the period of c.650-1550. Students acquire the language skills necessary to deal with medieval English texts of a variety of genres within their particular linguistic, historical and material contexts. The epic poem Beowulf, the homilies and saints' lives of Ælfric of Eynsham or riddles and prognostics are exemplary for the literature of the Anglo-Saxons, while Geoffrey Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales, the monumental allegory of Piers Plowman, the Gawain-Poet's beautiful compositions, the intriguing Harley Lyrics or the Mystery and Morality Plays demonstrate the diversity of later medieval English literature. Adequate study of these texts requires an understanding of medieval notions of textuality, authorship, performance and reception, thus opening new horizons in the areas of editing, rewriting or recycling medieval literature in modern media.