Although there’s no compulsory advance reading, the convenors of some of the core modules have some suggestions for books you might like to get started with.
**King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.**
Most students will take four core modules in their first semester at King’s:
1) Reading Poetry
2) Introducing Literary Theories
3) Writing London
4) Introduction to American Literature.
1. Reading Poetry
Reading Poetry doesn’t have a fixed reading list, but you’re encouraged to get a copy of The Norton Anthology of Poetry in either the 5th or 6th Edition. This is a reference work which contains
reliable texts of works by major poets writing in English from the Middle Ages to the present day. Either edition is fine: the 5th edition will be cheaper secondhand.
- Either The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Sixth edition (London: Norton, 2018) or The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Fifth edition (London: Norton, 2005)
- You might also look at Professor Ruth Padel’s 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem (London: Vintage, 2004)
- If you’re feeling adventurous, try Muriel Rukeyser’s The Life of Poetry (Paris Press, 1996).
2. Introducing Literary Theories
Raymond Williams, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (Fontana, 1988)
There are many different editions of this classic of cultural criticism: the Fontana is the cheapest new, but any secondhand edition is fine.
3. Writing London
- Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia (any modern edition)
- Linton Kwesi Johnson, Selected Poems (London: Penguin, 2006)
- Joe Orton, Entertaining Mr Sloane (any modern edition)
- Ford Madox Ford, ‘Chapter 1: From a Distance’ from The Soul of London
- Virginia Woolf, ‘Street Haunting: A London Adventure’
4. Introduction to American Literature
Some stories you might like to read, or find out about:
- Washington Irving, ‘Rip Van Winkle’
- Stephen Crane, ‘The Blue Hotel’ (1899)
- Zitkala-Sa, ‘The Badger and Bear’
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