English, M.A. @ MTSU

English

Study Literary, Cultural, Writing & Film Studies with individualized mentoring, diverse courses, and flexible options.

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English, M.A.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) in English is offered through the College of Liberal Arts at MTSU. Its curriculum allows students to explore standard areas of Literary and Cultural Studies, as well as topics related to Writing Studies and Popular Culture. The courses are designed as seminars and graduate students may expect highly individualized mentoring from the graduate faculty.

Graduate study in English engages in the deep and intense study of literature and writing, language, and theory, undertaken for the special growth in knowledge and understanding of the world of human expressions and experiences that such studies bring. It also provides preparation and training for careers within and outside of the academy. Students who attain degrees in this program enrich each other through their diversity of experiences and perspectives and take the cultural and intellectual wealth of their interactions and knowledge into their communities with them as they integrate their lives beyond the seminar room.

Pursue the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in English at MTSU with a nationally and internationally recognized faculty teaching diverse courses in literature, writing, film, and various expressions of language and culture. Students are encouraged to think and create freely within a structure that provides support from peers, guidance from faculty, resources for research, challenging goals, and rigorous standards. The relatively small size of graduate seminars allows for encouraging individualized attention. The program offers both thesis and non-thesis options. Assistantships are available, as well as awards and fellowships.

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News Briefs

Dr. Mischa Renfroe and Graduate Students work on the Complete Works of Edith Wharton

Though Edith Wharton is widely celebrated as one of the nation’s finest writers, her work has not generated a comprehensive scholarly edition befitting her literary standing. To fill this void, Oxford University Press will publish The Complete Works of Edith Wharton (CWEWh) in thirty volumes that adhere to the highest editorial standards. In 2020, Dr. Mischa Renfroe began editing Volume 13: The Reef (1912), and in the fall of 2022, she received an MTSU Non-Instructional Assignment Grant to support the project. The first step involved acquiring Wharton’s handwritten manuscripts from the Beinecke Library at Yale University and completing transcriptions of almost 800 pages. The project also required careful word by word comparisons of several editions of the novel published during Wharton’s lifetime. The scholarly edition will include a record of Wharton’s revisions, providing important insights into her writing process and concerns. More recently, Dr. Renfroe visited the Wharton Collection at the Beinecke, where she explored unpublished letters, journals, and other archival materials. She also dedicated a day to examining books from Wharton’s personal library at The Mount. This archival work will inform an introductory essay as well as explanatory notes for the edition.

Dr. Renfroe is grateful to the English department for the opportunity to collaborate with two amazing graduate student research assistants. Doctoral candidate Chelsea Meeks served as a co-transcriber, separately transcribing manuscripts and discussing transcription decisions. Doctoral candidate Harley Mercadal collated the American first edition of The Reef with its British counterpart and proofread the typed copy-text from Oxford University Press. These dedicated graduate students have made substantial contributions to the project by working on a word-division list, unearthing contemporary reviews and advertisements, locating academic research, and tracking down valuable materials in archives.

Graduate African American Literature Course

Dr. Laura Dukek’s African American Literature seminar (ENGL 6221/7221) offers students an exploration of the rich African American literary tradition through an examination of critically acclaimed writers, texts, and adaptations in film and television. Participants are encouraged to embark on independent research projects that extend beyond the assigned readings and screenings, that culminate in an essay of literary criticism intended for presentation at a specific conference, inclusion in an essay collection, or publication in a peer-reviewed journal. In the fall of 2023, Dr. Dubek's seminar students met up at Starbucks with the primary texts they chose for their independent research projects. The chosen texts included: Kindred by Octavia Butler, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson.