200-level

ENGL201
The Essay and Beyond: Creative Non-Fiction
Description
Non-fiction writing has a strong place within the traditions of literature, but has often tended to be neglected as a subject of study. To redress this, we will look at different genres of non-fiction: essays, popular science, travel writing, nature writing, and various types of "life writing". We will question the particular techniques and generic distinctions of texts studied, consider the specific subjects of non-fiction texts, examine how the texts are constructed and discuss their significance in the contexts most relevant to them. In addition, the course will explore the representation of place, displacement and placement; the history of subjectivity; recent interventions into postcolonial, globalisation and literary studies, and ecocriticism and human-animal studies; and the operation of gender and class as they apply to the production and readership of literary non-fiction.
Occurrences
Semester One 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL; DISC101 or DISC102; or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
WRIT201
ENGL206
Science, Technology and Literature
Description
This course will particularly concentrate on the last two centuries of intersections between science, technology and literature, assaying major trends and preoccupations present in a range of texts and theories. Within a general examination of literature's engagements, the development of science fiction forms and concerns will be considered, especially because of the way that the genre often speculates the fears and desires of its time onto both futuristic settings and "alternate realities". Students will be expected to read a range of key material, including a small selection of novels, some short fiction, theoretical writings and visual texts.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
ENGL306
ENGL210
Inventing New Zealand in Literature
Description
ENGL 210 is an introduction to New Zealand literature. The course has a twentieth-century focus, and, in its survey of the century, examines texts that engage the issues of translation (a politics of metaphor) by which different ideas of ‘New Zealandness’ have been established and critiqued. What is it we mean when we speak of New Zealand literature? What are the assumptions, readings and interpretations employed in the formation of something like New Zealand identity, and what are their contexts?
Occurrences
Semester One 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
ENGL220
Creative Writing: Storymaking and the Short Story
Description
In this course students explore storymaking with a focus on the short story. The course is structured into three modules: ‘the beginning’, ‘middle’, and ‘end’, and each includes diverse readings, guided writing exercises, and discussion. Students explore character, place, plot, structure, voice, meaning, resolution and editing, and the weekly workshops offer space for supportive feedback and experiment. By the end, students will have drafted, re-crafted and completed a short story, developed their fingerprint storytelling voice and style.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL; DISC101 or DISC102; or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
WRIT220
ENGL233
Creative Writing for Stage
Description
This course combines the development of students' creative writing with teaching of the practical skills and dramaturgic techniques of scripting for stage.
Occurrences
Summer Nov 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL; DISC101 or DISC102; or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
ENGL234
ENGL239
Creative Writing: Eco-Lit in the Field
Description
In this course students will have a series of immersive experiences of the Aotearoa environment and explore a range of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction texts by key writers including pioneers of environmental writing, contemporary writers, and writers with a strong Aotearoa New Zealand connection. Students will participate in daily lectures, writing workshops and guided writing exercises and walks, will engage in close observation and explore ways to effectively and powerfully communicate ideas about the environment, landforms and lifeforms through creative writing. This course will take place over five Tuesdays and will require that students attend two full day fieldtrips to Hinewai on Banks Peninsula and Cass Field Station in the Southern Alps, as well as three on-campus days. Students can book a place in the UC vans on the fieldtrip days, and are strongly advised to email pieta.gray@canterbury.ac.nz or vana.manasiadis@canterbury.ac.nz to confirm a place, if required, before enrolling. The fee for a place in the van is $40.
Occurrences
Summer Nov 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL; or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA; or permission of the Head of Department
ENGL243
Creature Features: From Jaws to Planet of the Apes
Description
This course explores cinematic representations of insects, mammals, fish, birds and reptiles, with an emphasis on their special place in horror and science fiction genres. Students will also be introduced to Human-Animal Studies as a field of scholarship.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CINE243, CULT206, ENGL349
ENGL250
Indigilit - Indigenous Literature in Aotearoa and Beyond
Description
This course is a survey of Indigenous literature which presents Indigenous creative production in Aotearoa in relation to Indigenous literatures around the globe. Students are encouraged to consider various forms of narrative which constitute 'literature' in Indigenous contexts, to critically engage with representations of and ideas about Indigenous peoples within a range of texts, and to read Indigenous texts comparatively.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
TITO201, MAOR207
ENGL252
Crime Stories
Description
The course addresses the usefulness and range of the crime genre as an appropriate focus for the acquisition of the skills (in research, critical analysis, and written expression) peculiar to English studies, as well as a form of social and political critique. It will particularly concentrate on the last two centuries of the representations of crime, detection, confession, and punishments, assaying major trends and preoccupations present in a range of texts and theories. Within a general contextual examination of engagements between these facets, the development of genre forms and concerns will be considered, especially because the genre often speculates the fears and desires of its time in ways that likewise shape wider perceptions of crime and punishment. Students will be expected to read a range of key material, including a small selection of novels, some short fiction, theoretical writings and visual texts that should represent differences and similarities in representation and subject choice that writers and directors negotiate.
Occurrences
Semester One 2026
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
ENGL352; CULT252; CULT352

Not Offered Courses in 2026

200-level

ENGL202
Rebels, Devils and Cannibals: Literature and the Origins of Modernity
Description
Examining a range of literary texts in English from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, ENGL202/302 focuses on how the chosen works represent and are shaped by the first glimmerings of modern forms of culture and consciousness.
Occurrences
Not offered 2026, offered in 2018 , 2020 , 2021 , 2023
For further information see ENGL202 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL211
Exceptional Americans: An Introduction to American Literature
Description
This course offers students the chance to engage with some of the most exceptional writers and texts in the American tradition and, at the same time, to think critically about the idea of exceptionalism itself.
Occurrences
Not offered 2026, offered in 2016 , 2017 , 2018 , 2024 , 2025
For further information see ENGL211 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL213
Children's Classics: Popular Children's Texts and their Representation on Film
Description
Children's Classics teaches the genre-specific nature of children's literature, its socio-historical contexts, and the significance of its re-readings as film. It introduces a selection of enduring children's texts, illustrating the importance to literary production of changing cultural context, demonstrating the importance of intertextuality in children's literature and how texts change when filmed, and promotes the skills of reading and writing.
Occurrences
Not offered 2026, offered in 2019 , 2020 , 2021 , 2023 , 2024
For further information see ENGL213 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL231
Creative Writing: Experiments in G.L.A.M Poetry
Description
This course offers instruction and advice in the practice of writing poetry. A number of forms and styles will be studied, and writing exercises will be used to extend and develop the individual student's range of competencies. The course will culminate in the production by each student of a portfolio of his or her original work.
Occurrences
Not offered 2026
For further information see ENGL231 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL232
Cultural Politics/Cultural Activism
Description
This course offers students a grounding in Cultural Studies theories and methods. It examines the political dynamics and historical foundations of contemporary culture, and the strategic roles that it can play as a force for change. Drawing from a wide variety of examples, it focuses on how culture - as a process, as a practice, and as the production of meaning - functions as a battleground in the assignment of and struggle for social power.
Occurrences
Not offered 2026, offered in 2023 , 2024 , 2025
For further information see ENGL232 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL238
Creative Writing for Screen
Description
The objective of the course is to combine the development of students' creative writing with the practical skills and dramaturgic techniques of writing for film.
Occurrences
Not offered 2026, offered in 2020 , 2021
For further information see ENGL238 course details
Points
15 points