English Literature Virtual Taster Event

Our English Literature virtual taster events are a great opportunity to learn more about the course you are interested in, speak with lecturers and find out what it’s really like to be a student at Worcester from the comfort of your own home.

The value of reading outside the ‘A’ level curriculum can be overlooked, however, Young Adult writers have variously produced novels which give insight into how a pandemic can affect a society. Tragically this pandemic is not the only such event in history. ‘The Black Death’ swept across Europe from 1347 to 1351, followed by ‘The Great Plague’, 1665-1666, and ‘The Spanish Flu pandemic’, 1918-1920. These life-changing events have stimulated historical fiction for older children, teenage readers and adults; writers have also employed memoirs, ghost stories, murder mysteries and dystopian science fiction to explore the effects of pandemics on individuals and societies. The talk will cover a range of ‘pandemic’ novels and open up questions about how teenagers and young adults might deal with, be valued and contribute to their society.