Literary Studies are concerned with the analysis and interpretation of texts. This includes a consideration of the conditions and the production, of literary forms, possible meanings as well as the reception and functions of texts and systems of texts. It is by analysing literary texts that Literary Studies develop their research questions and methods in the first place. Building on this, however, the field of interest also extends to textual phenomena outside a more narrow field of literature and its typical media, including for instance the rhetoric of advertising or of feature films. Literary Studies reflect on what constitutes the “literariness” of texts. The interrelationships between texts and contexts also play a crucial role in literary analysis.

English Literary Studies deal with texts that have been written in Great Britain and Ireland since the 8th century, but they also include texts from the colonial and post-colonial English-speaking world (outside North America).

This field of studies is primarily concerned with the systematic reading and analysis of literary texts written in English. The aim is to enable students to reflect on literary and non-literary texts theoretically, to evaluate them, and to independently develop critical statements about them. From the outset, the study of texts includes the reflection on literary methods.