French and Comparative Literature

Kent offers an excellent environment for postgraduate study in French literature, thought, culture, society and the visual arts from the 18th century to the present. French at Kent was in the top ten in the UK in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. Our main research interests include word and image studies, narratology, literary theory, psychoanalysis, sociolinguistics, postcolonial studies, gender studies and autobiography. Staff and postgraduates in French take a leading role in the School of European Culture and Languages’ Centre for Modern European Literature and the School of English’s Centre for Studies in the Long Eighteenth Century, whose activities include conferences, lectures, research seminars and reading groups. Students also participate in an annual international conference organised by Skepsi, an online journal based in the School of European Culture and Languages and run by MA and PhD candidates. This programme enables you to study in Canterbury in the autumn term and in Paris in the spring term. In Canterbury, you choose two relevant 30-credit modules. You then spend the spring term in Paris, where your studies are based at our teaching and research centre in Montparnasse. During that term, you take two modules taught by staff from the University of Kent and occasional guest lecturers, thus ensuring consistent academic standards and assessment throughout the year