Full year compulsory module

COM4207 Knowledge and Power

Semester A:

Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior (1976): there are a number of editions available, and you do not need to buy a particular edition.

Vincent Delecroix, Small Boat (translated by Helen Stevenson) (2025); https://www.hoperoadpublishing.com/books/small-boat

If you read French, you can of course read the original version (Naufrage (2023)): https://www.decitre.fr/livres/naufrage-9782073095855.html#ae1344

Semester B:

Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend (Translated by Ann Goldstein) (2012) If you read Italian, you can read the original (L’amica geniale (2011))

Eugene Ionesco, The Lesson. It might be easiest to get this collected volume with Rhinoceros, The Chairs, The Lesson (Penguin Books) https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/57182/rhinoceros-the-chairs-the-lesson-by-eugene-ionesco/9780141184296 If you read French, you can of course read the original version (La Leçon (1951))

Brian Friel, Translations (1995)

There’s also an e-book version available in this edited collection [QMUL login required] Friel, Brian. "Translations." Plays One. London: Faber and Faber, 1984. 378–451. Drama Online. Web. 20 Aug. 2025. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9780571286249.00000048>. 

Whenever possible, please explore second-hand options, the local library, the Senate House library. QMUL library also has single copies of the required texts. The important thing is that you need to have the copy of the book with you for the seminar discussions and when planning and writing your assessments.

Semester 1 compulsory modules

COM4211 Beyond Compare: Literature Across Borders

Texts will be available through QM+ before the start of the semester – you do not need to buy any materials or do reading in advance.

COM4209 Myth, Modernity and Metamorphosis

Texts (links to e-books) will be available via QM+ before the start of the semester. The only book you need to buy is Prometheus Unbound, translated and introduced by Philip Vellacot: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/34769/prometheus-bound-and-other-plays-by-aeschylus-translated-with-an-introduction-by-philip-vellacott/9780140441123

Semester 2 compulsory modules

COM4210: Understanding Culture: Exploring the Big Questions

All texts are available via QM+ or Mile End Library. A full list will be circulated at the end of Semester A.

COM4208 Brief Encounters: Around the World in Short Stories

Preparatory reading:

Valerie Shaw, The Short Story (New York: Longman, 1983), ‘Preface’ and ‘“Only Short Stories”: Estimates and Explanations’

Optional reading: 

March-Russell, Paul, The Short Story: An Introduction [PDF 179KB] (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), chapter one: “Origins: From Folktale to Art-Tale.”

Additional readings will available through the module’s QM+ page.


Last modified: Thursday, 11 September 2025, 10:37 AM