Program Details

The English Department at Hebrew University offers a prestigious graduate program for the study of literature in English, including British, American, Irish, Canadian and South African works. Students in the MA in English program can choose from a number of subspecialties, among them Elizabethan drama, Renaissance and Restoration poetry, the Victorian novel, twentieth-century literature and literary theory. The faculty members approach literary texts from a wide variety of perspectives (formal, thematic and historical) and foster originality and curiosity bolstered by the most rigorous research methodology and writing skills.

The courses offered in the MA program showcase the faculty’s latest research interests. While offerings change from year to year, recent programs have included seminars on the pastoral genre, Irish modernism, posthumanism, eco-criticism, childhood in Victorian culture, 9/11 fiction, the Vietnam War in literature and film, and feminist theory, as well as single-author courses on Milton, Shakespeare, Dickens, Joyce, Nabokov and J. M. Coetzee. For a list of 2021-2022 courses, click here.

The MA program meets the highest international standards and prepares students to compete with postgraduates from top universities worldwide. Students benefit from numerous international exchange opportunities as well as exclusive partnerships with international summer schools (Dickens Universe, California; Beckett Summer School, Dublin; Shakespeare Summer School, Verona).

Career & Networking 

Graduates have found employment in various fields such as education, journalism, publishing, translation and editing. Others have been accepted to the best doctoral programs in North America, the UK and Israel.

The faculty members are active participants in international societies and have regularly sent students to prestigious international summer schools and global workshops, where they have many networking opportunities.

Teaching Faculty

The English Department has a long-standing reputation of research excellence and is home to leading scholars in the study of Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Hardy, Conrad, Joyce, Woolf, Beckett, Flann O’Brien, Nabokov and Coetzee, as well as contemporary American literature and literary theory.

The teaching staff in the MA program includes:

• Galia Benziman, Associate Professor of English, whose research focuses on the Victorian novel, nineteenth-century childhood, and the elegy.
• Louise Bethlehem, Associate Professor of English, whose research interests include South African literature, post-apartheid texts, and cultural studies.
• Ruben Borg, Associate Professor of English, whose research explores Irish Modernism, twentieth-century philosophy, posthumanism, and Dante’s influence on modernist writers.
• Sanford Budick, Emeritus Professor of English, who has written books on Shakespeare, Dryden, eighteenth-century poetry, Milton and Kant, and more. 
• Micha Lazarus, Senior Lecturer in English, whose research explores Renaissance literature, Elizabethan drama, the reception of classic texts, and English literary history.
• Yael Levin, Associate Professor of English, whose research interests include modernism, postmodernism, narratology, and disability studies.
• Naomi Mandel, Associate Professor of English, whose research focuses on contemporary American literature, the aesthetics of violence, and culture of the digital age. 
• Leona Toker, Professor Emerita of English, whose research focuses on narratology, Vladimir Nabokov, ethics and literature, and the eighteenth and nineteenth-century English novel.

Faculty of Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities at Hebrew University is committed to shedding light on civilizations past and present as revealed through history, language, literature, religion, philosophy, music, art and material culture. The numerous prizes and grants received by the academic staff – including Israel Prizes and ERC grants – attest to the high quality of research and teaching for which the faculty is known. 

Admissions Requirements

Proficiency in the English language is a compulsory requirement for admission. Additionally, candidates who do not possess an exemption from the mandatory examination, or those who have been accepted on the basis of completing pending requirements, are required to participate in an accompanying workshop.

Applicants are welcome to contact the MA Advisor, Prof. Borg, at ruben.borg@mail.huji.ac.il for more information about the admissions process.

For detailed information on admission requirements, based on the country where you completed your undergraduate studies, please click here.

Tuition & Scholarships

Tuition for a full two-year MA Program is approximately US$10,000.

The English Department offers its students a variety of bursaries and prizes, in addition to scholarships for fully funded study trips to England, Ireland, California and Italy. For more information, please visit the Department website.

Further Information

Academic and Admissions Inquiries: Prof. Ruben Borg, Graduate Studies Advisor: ruben.borg@mail.huji.ac.il

Program Website

 

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