History and Literature

History and literature are disciplines that are deeply interconnected. Literary works are themselves historical documents, shaped by the conditions of their production and contributing in turn to the cultural and political life of their moment. History depends on the close and critical reading of texts, requiring exactly the attention to language, form, and meaning that literary study develops.

Bringing the two disciplines together, rather than studying either in isolation, illuminates both, revealing how historical context shapes what writers can imagine and say, and how literary form can preserve and transform historical experience.

At the University of Essex, this three-year full-time degree explicitly brings together the study of historical events and literary texts, helping you understand how history shapes literature and how literature reflects and reinterprets the past. You will explore a wide range of historical periods alongside diverse literary traditions, developing strong analytical, research, and communication skills in both disciplines. The programme encourages you to think across the boundary between history and literature, asking what each discipline illuminates about the questions the other raises.

With a typical entry tariff of 120 UCAS points, the course is accessible to students with intellectual curiosity and a love for both the past and the texts through which it is recorded and imagined.

Graduates from history and literature programmes are well placed across a wide range of careers. Publishing, journalism, teaching, heritage and museums, arts administration, the civil service, research, and the creative industries are all common destinations. The analytical, research, and communication skills the combination develops are valued in any career where understanding complex material and communicating about it clearly matters.

Postgraduate study in history, English literature, cultural studies, or creative writing provides a natural continuation.