Portuguese and English Literature

Portuguese and English Literature is a degree that brings together one of the world's most geographically and culturally diverse languages with the deep tradition of English literary study. Portuguese carries an extraordinary reach: from the medieval poetry of the Iberian Peninsula to the modernist prose of Lisbon and the magical realism of Brazilian fiction, from the oral traditions of Cape Verde to the contemporary literature of Angola and Mozambique. English Literature is one of the oldest and most richly studied of all literary traditions in the world, encompassing poetry, fiction, and drama across many centuries and a growing range of anglophone national contexts.

Studying both together develops a genuinely comparative literary sensibility, training you to move between traditions and to notice what each illuminates about the other.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year full-time programme develops your Portuguese language skills to a high level while also providing a rigorous and wide-ranging education in English Literature. You will read texts in Portuguese across the major traditions of the language, studying the literatures of Portugal, Brazil, and the Portuguese-speaking African nations with appropriate attention to their different cultural and historical contexts. In English Literature you will engage with poetry, fiction, and drama from the medieval period to the contemporary, developing your skills in close reading, literary analysis, and critical argument.

Edinburgh has strong departments in both areas, and the research environment enriches the teaching throughout the programme.

Graduates pursue careers in publishing, journalism, education, translation and interpreting, cultural organisations, the civil service, and international business. Many go on to postgraduate study in English, Lusophone studies, or comparative literature. The combination of linguistic depth and literary breadth is well suited to any career in which cultural intelligence and communicative precision are valued.