Department of Literature, Journalism and Modern Languages

Ever since you’ve been able to do so, reading has been your passion. If you routinely whip through a 250-page novel over a weekend, and want to learn about the history of great literature and its role today, you’re a perfect candidate for becoming a literature major. Students will read literature from classical to post-modern times, approach literary works from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and develop critical writing skills. Courses in creative writing and linguistics facilitate a deeper understanding of language and its use, and students may produce publishable narrative or journalistic pieces for school and local publications. We’ve bookmarked a place just for you in the Department of Literature, Journalism and Modern Language.

Overview

PLNU offers two concentrations for its literature major: literature and English education. The former focuses on great works from England, America and across the world. Upper division courses allow for students to learn about women’s, Latin, African-American and Shakespearean literature, as well as gain understanding on literary theory and movements.

The English education concentration serves to prepare students wishing to attend graduate school and become teachers of the written word. In addition to extensive literature course work, students will engage in topics of linguistics, grammar and theory. Creative writing classes are also required. As mandated by the state of California, students pursuing an English education concentration must also complete the state required Subject Matter Summative Evaluation as well as the entire secondary Single-Subject California teaching credential with subject-matter authorization in English language arts.

Special Features:

• Professors are knowledgeable, published writers whose works have been appeared in scholarly journals such as French Studies, The Princeton University Library Chronicle, and The Journal of Mass Media Ethics, as well as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. With international invitations to lecture and submit papers, faculty members have presented at The University of London, UCLA, Princeton University, and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese in Madrid, Spain.
• Department faculty have received major national grants including several from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Fellowship Grant, and the Del Amo Foundation.
• Opportunity to work on staff for The Point Weekly, the annual yearbook or the The Driftwood, a literary magazine.
• The Annual Writers’ Symposium By the Sea, which has hosted such writers as Ray Bradbury, George Plimpton, Amy Tan, Rick Reilly, Kathleen Norris, Bill Moyers and Donald Miller.

Career Opportunities:

• Writer
• English Teacher
• Literature Critic
• Editor