Master of Arts in English - Gender and Literature

University of Maine

The University of Maine Master of Arts in English engages MA candidates as scholars, teachers, and artists who understand that individual excellence is developed within a community that values respectful exchange and a strong network of peer and mentor support. All of our program’s areas of expertise-poetics, writing studies, literature, creative writing-centralize dialogue, experimentation, and collaboration. We responsibly challenge received ideas in our disciplines with a passion for new approaches and a nuanced understanding of our histories. Our degree culminates with a professional portfolio our graduates use to advance their goals toward PhD or MFA programs, teaching careers, employment in the private or public-sector, or personal growth. Students who seek a learning environment that supports them even as it challenges them to enhance their knowledge, explore new ideas, and gain experience in literary analysis, research, writing, and teaching will find themselves at home with us. Our critical strength is our diversity of approaches and the kinds of experiences we offer. MA candidates can expect to grow in different and sometimes unexpected directions as they explore many different facets of English studies. While deepening and widening their knowledge of literature, our MA candidates find themselves preparing technical documentation, editing a short story, writing an innovative assignment sequence or grant application, and/or taking up the challenges of poetics, empirical field-research on writing, and literary and rhetorical theory.The concentration in Gender & Literature allows students to pursue focused study of the workings of gender in language and literature. Coursework may include studies of women writers, of feminist criticism, gender criticism, or queer theory, of femininities and/or masculinities in particular literary periods or schools, as well as of theoretical questions such as the gendered nature of language.