Surrey English Blog

The blog for English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Surrey

What does my dissertation on black female identity and The British Empire mean to me?

This week we’re welcoming back Louisa Daley, who looks at why she chose her dissertation topic and how it can contribute to wider discussions about race and personal identity. “As the dissertation process comes to an end, I’ve been thinking about my topic more generally. My dissertation focuses on black female identity and The British […]


Finding space to grow amid a pandemic

The girl who walked out of Surrey University in 2020 (or, rather, shut her laptop down after her final virtual seminar), is very different to the one who had crept in two years ago. I had previously attended another institution where my health declined, and I developed anorexia. The long break I was forced to […]


Mixing it up with Modules

Final year English Literature student Georgia discusses the merits of choosing modules at University which compliment your degree AND personal interests. “Looking back to my time in the lower sixth form, specifically to university selection time, I remember how convinced I was that I was going to go to university to study an English Literature […]


Doing lockdown differently

When the first lockdown happened in March, I was still on my professional placement and thankfully working part-time two days a week. But what did I do with the other five days? Like many other people, I baked banana bread and started to follow daily workout routines, but I admittedly only kept this up for […]


Isolation Insight: Brave New World

2020 has been a year of adjustment, a year of acclimation. Our world has changed. The past is, in many ways, unrecognisable. The streets of my home city, lined with people in masks, plastic visors, barriers, one-way systems and bottles of hand sanitiser, are a new and unfamiliar landscape. There is plenty that has been […]


Isolation Insight: Video Game Escapism

‘Reality is broken. Game designers can fix it.’ – Jane McGonigal Video games have long been associated with escapism. This week I want to talk about video game narratives and their place amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s no secret to my friends and family that I am an avid consumer of video games. I used […]


Isolation Insight: Fight Club

“The things you used to own, now they own you.” The first rule of Fight Club? You don’t talk about Fight Club. And yet this week, Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, Fight Club, is exactly what my guest, Emma Brine, wants to talk about. Fight Club is Palahniuk’s second novel. A ‘tantalising exploration of violence, male […]


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