The concept of identity is central to our lives. In this course, you will meet many characters and voices in the works and texts you study. Hopefully, exposure to a variety of perspectives ranging across time and space will both confirm and challenge your views of what it is to be human. You will consider the role of authorship in writing – that is, how does the identity of a writer influence their works and texts? Also, you will think about how your own identity as a reader shapes your understanding of works and texts. You may also consider whether it is reasonable to think of identity as something that is fixed and unchanging; perhaps identity is something that alters in response to changing circumstances and contexts.

Culture is a complex concept. Its meaning is contested and has been used to mean different things at different times and in different places. You may find it helpful to think about culture as being about the collective ideas and values we (more or less) share, and the ways in which these ideas are communicated. It is also about our everyday behaviour, as well as the social practices and rituals we collectively engage in. In addition, culture is sometimes discussed in terms of habits and traditions. And, although we talk about ‘culture’, we also sometimes talk about different ‘cultures’. To understand a text it is important to understand something of the culture of the writer and the reader at the time the text was published. You are also a reader of texts, and thinking critically about your own cultural context helps you recognise why you think and respond as you do.

Creativity is central to the activities of reading and writing. Writing is, very obviously, a creative act of imagination. In reading, too, creativity is required to interpret and understand a text, and to explore its range of potential meanings. Creativity is also relevant to the notion of originality. You might question whether originality is a reasonable prerequisite of reading and writing, and you might question whether originality is even possible.

The concept of perspective suggests that works and texts have a range of potential meanings. The potential can arise, for example, from the writer’s intentions, a reader’s bias, and from the time and place in which a work or text was written. In this course, you will be encouraged to express your perspectives, motivate them, and be prepared to have them challenged by other (different) perspectives. In studying English, as in many things in life, we don’t always see things in the same way.

The concept of transformation is related to the idea of ‘intertextuality’. It refers to the sense that meaning cannot be entirely found in a text. Instead, meaning is ‘borrowed’ from other texts. For example, the plot of the Disney film The Lion King ‘borrows’ from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. This is an example of intertextuality and transformation. As a reader or viewer of a text, you may also experience transformation. Reading a book can, for example, transform how you think and behave.

Representation is about the relationship between texts and meanings. In a text, whether literary or non-literary, the relationship between form, structure, and meaning is an important concern. Perspectives differ on the extent to which language and literature does, can, or should represent reality. It’s vital to understand that words and images on a page are not the same as the things they represent (e.g. a cartoon drawing of a baby is not actually a baby). Texts represent, and are a version of the things they represent. Other versions are possible.

The concept of communication is an important concern in this course. Writers communicate with readers, playing with language, style, and structure to create ideas. Writers write for different purposes and for different intended audiences. For this reason, they alter the ways they use language. Communication is, however, complex. Ideas don’t go directly from texts into readers’ heads. Instead, readers often understand texts in different ways because of their own life experiences. Readers may understand what they think a writer intends, but they don’t have to accept or like it.