The study of English literature in the early twenty-first century is
host to an exhilarating range of critical approaches, theories and
historical perspectives. ‘English’ ranges from traditional modes of
study such as Shakespeare and Romanticism to popular interest in
national and area literatures such as the United States, Ireland and
the Caribbean. The subject also spans a diverse array of genres from
tragedy to cyberpunk, incorporates such hybrid fields of study as
Asian American literature, Black British literature, creative writing
and literary adaptations, and remains eclectic in its methodology.