London: British Literature and Culture

In the course of this intensive quarter-long program, students take four courses. Three of these courses, devoted to British literature and culture, are each compressed into approximately three weeks and taught in succession by Chicago faculty. The fourth course runs throughout the term at a less intensive pace and allows for independent study of a London-based topic. London itself, once the metropolitan hub of the British Empire with a history dating from Roman times, is central to the mission of this program and students are expected to make a serious project of exploring its corners. Toward this end, the program includes a number of field trips within and around London, aimed at connecting texts with living monuments.

Faculty who teach on this program rotate from year to year. The faculty roster is designated by the program faculty director.

Autumn 2026 Course Descriptions

ENGL On Coziness
Tina Post 
Description coming soon…

ENGL 19902 Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group
Bill Brown 
A controversial art exhibition organized and curated by Roger Fry—“Manet and the Post-Impressionists”—provoked Virginia Woolf to write that “on or about December 1910 human character changed.” The Bloomsbury Group, renowned for its role in vilifying Victorian culture and promoting English modernism, was no less famous for its own efforts to change human character: for its unprecedented understanding of aesthetics, economics, social politics, and sexuality. Taking advantage of our location in London (and focusing on the neighborhood in which the group lived, met, wrote, and painted), this course will provide an opportunity to engage a broad spectrum of Bloomsbury work: diaries, essays, and fiction by Virginia Woolf; the art and design of Venessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and Roger Fry; essays and broadcasts by Clive Bell, Leonard Woolf, and John Maynard Keynes. This engagement will unfold through different analytics (formalist, psychoanalytic, materialist), and with sustained recognition of two Bloomsbury institutions—the short-lived Omega Workshops, and the enduring Hogarth Press. The British Library, Tate Britain, the Tate Modern, and the Courtauld Institute of Art will provide us with access to visual texts and material objects. We will also visit Kew Gardens, and we’ll take a trip to Sussex to visit Monk’s House (where Leonard and Virginia took “refuge” from London, beginning in 1919); Charleston House (the “heart of Bloomsbury” in Sussex, a retreat where Vanessa Bell lived with Duncan Grant and his lover David Garnett, beginning in 1916); and Berwick Church (which commissioned Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and Quentin Bell to paint murals in 1941).

ENGL Sex and Skullduggery in the City: Staging Early Modern London
Ellen MacKay
This course is designed to introduce students to City Comedy, the signature comic genre of the early modern English professional stage (1576-1642). Making the most of our location, we will juxtapose dramatic texts with primary materials, scholarly essays, museum visits, neighborhood tours, and (especially) live theatrical productions to develop a detailed view of City Comedy. The plays we will study all depend on their urban character to unspool their twisty plots, including Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Mile End), Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair (West Smithfield), Dekker and Webster’s The Roaring Girl (Bankside), and Heywood’s The Wise Woman of Hoxton—this last a play about a witch-adjacent Wise Woman in a London suburb who keeps her community safe from social predators of all sorts. As we toggle between the material environment of the booming capitol and the comedies that gave the city its gritty allure, we will consider how London serves as a wellspring of theatrical innovation, producing genres and characters never seen before.

London program participants usually reside in shared, furnished studio apartments in central London. The apartments include fully equipped kitchens, private bathrooms, laundry facilities, and wireless internet access.

It is important to recognize the cultural context of student housing in the UK and understand that the amenities of the student apartments may vary. Although some of these differences may take some getting used to, remember that cultural differences extend to all aspects of your experience abroad. Having realistic expectations for your term in London will help you approach the study abroad experience with a positive attitude.

Participants in the London program remain registered as full-time students in the College. They take and receive credit for four courses: the three courses in the “British Literature and Culture” sequence and the fourth independent study course. Literature courses taught by Chicago English faculty may be used in their respective majors without special approval. Their use, partial or total, in other majors must be approved by the undergraduate chair of that department. Courses not used to meet major requirements may fill elective slots. Course titles, units of credit, and grades are placed on the College transcript.

Study abroad students pay regular College tuition, a program fee, and a nonrefundable study abroad administrative fee. The tuition and program fee are paid in conformity with the home campus payment schedule, and a deposit toward the nonrefundable study abroad administrative fee is submitted when accepting a place in a program. Precise figures for the London program during the 2025-2026 year are listed below:

Autumn tuition: as set by the Bursar’s Office

Study abroad administrative fee: $675

London program fee: $5,960

Previous program participants report spending in the range of $200 to $250 per week on meals and incidentals while on the program, though frugal students may spend less, and others could spend much more. Bear in mind that the cost of living in London is relatively high and that, while it is possible to live frugally, it is also possible to run short of money if you are unwary. It is therefore essential that you budget your funds prudently, apportioning your resources so that they last for the duration of the program. If you are planning to travel before or after the program or on weekends, you should budget accordingly.

Study abroad students retain their financial aid eligibility. For more information about financial aid resources, please see our Tuition, Fees, and Funding section.

The London program is open to University of Chicago undergraduate students only. Applications from outside the University are not accepted.

The program is designed for University of Chicago undergraduates in good academic and disciplinary standing with a strong interest in British literature and culture and with some coursework in this area. It is not required that English be a student’s major subject at Chicago, though students concentrating in those fields will likely find the program to be especially attractive and profitable. In general students should present a solid academic record and demonstrate the kind of maturity that is necessary to participate successfully in a program abroad.

Each application is examined on the basis of the student’s scholastic record and personal statement. If you are interested in applying for this program please fill out the online application.

To discuss the London: British Literature and Culture program and the possibility of participating, please contact Dana Currier.