Ghent University, First European Institution to Offer Literature Course Inspired by Taylor Swift

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Course will use singer’s work as springboard to explore everything from 14th-century texts to Margaret Atwood’s take on The Tempest
Much of the syllabus for Elly McCausland’s course at Ghent University reads like a who’s who of English literature, dotted with works by Geoffrey Chaucer, Charlotte Brontë and William Shakespeare. But it’s the inclusion of another prolific writer that has got people talking: the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.

“I’ve never had so many emails from excited students asking if they can take the course,” said McCausland, an assistant professor at the Belgian university. “And actually non-students as well, people who are not part of the university and who want to participate in some way.”