Literatures in English

English is a popular subject at Connecticut College: it offers students the opportunity to experience the pleasures and responsibilities of the imagination, and the skills students gain through studying and writing about literature prepare them to participate in the growing global community — a community whose common language, more often than not, is English.

Majors develop their own speaking and writing skills in the process of learning how to read a wide range of texts critically and imaginatively. They expand their understanding of the world they live in and its possibilities while becoming familiar with the literature that has mattered most to readers of English in different places and times. The range of works studied extends well beyond Britain and America — to the Caribbean and South Asia, for instance. This is one reason for the department’s recent revision of its name to Literatures in English.

The department offers optional concentrations in two areas:  Creative Writing and in Race and Ethnicity. See the Courses page for details.

Literatures in English makes a logical first or second major in combination with most other disciplines. Recent majors have linked their study of Literatures in English with majors in government, religious studies, environmental studies, economics and dance. The double major is one way to combine more specialized pre-professional training with the critical and rhetorical skills and habits of mind that the Literatures in English major cultivates.

Whether you choose Literatures in English as your only major or as one of your majors, you'll find that English itself is highly esteemed as a background in professions such as business and law.

Last Modified: Monday, October 04, 2010 2:05 PM