Program Overview

As the first UNESCO World City of Literature, home of the Edinburgh International Festival and a major cultural hub, Edinburgh is the ideal place for the study of intermediality, that is, the interrelations between different art forms and their signification.

Our taught Masters programme draws on world-class teaching and research expertise across media, from literature to film, music, painting, photography and visual culture more widely.

The programme will make you conversant with intermedial theory and equip you with the critical tools and historical background for understanding and analysing a wide range of intermedial phenomena across different periods and cultures, with an emphasis on the modern and contemporary period.

You will be encouraged to develop your own area of interest and expertise, with specially-designed option courses offering a detailed focus on the interplay between different art forms in, for instance, film adaptation, photo-literature, poetry and music, the graphic novel and modern screen cultures. This leads to a final dissertation or a practice-based project accompanied by a reflective essay, pursuing your research interests further and developing your research skills.

Based in a world-leading festival city, our MSc draws on the expertise of research-active teaching staff from across the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). Literature and the arts have been taught here for over 250 years and we are exceptional in having a leading international art college within the University of Edinburgh.

You will be part of a friendly, international community of staff and students from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, each with their own perspective on literature and the arts, with lots of opportunities to discuss and present your work. LLC and ECA have excellent links with cultural partners in the city and organise a regular series of talks and events.

Combining core courses with optional courses, training in research skills, methods and problems, and a dissertation or practice-based project, will help you understand the theory and practice of intermediality, as well as developing your independent research skills to publication standard. Many of our graduates have gone on to complete PhDs.

You will have access to a wide range of resources, including The University of Edinburgh Library, the National Library of Scotland, Scottish Poetry Library, and numerous theatres, museums, galleries and cinemas, including the Traverse Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Stills Gallery (Scotland’s Centre for Photography) and Filmhouse.