Loading...

Comparative Literature is the study of all modes of human expression: oral, written, visual—including today’s newest forms of media. Working between, within, and across borders, Comparative Literature helps students to build facility with multiple languages and skills in critical thinking, viewing, writing, and oral presentation. Comparatists also apply the insights and methods of philosophy, history, linguistics, sociology, the media, and the other human sciences to the study of literature and media.

Comparative Literature is, by definition, a comprehensive and complex discipline: its practitioners become adept in multiple cultures and its tradition emphasizes interdisciplinary, theoretical, and engaged research and teaching.

If you study Comparative Literature, you learn languages and you travel. It’s as simple as that. But the pay-off is anything but simple. Today, international knowledge and international experience give employees an edge in nearly every field. Careers in media, law, public service, the non-profit sector, international business, and academia are among those represented by Comparative Literature graduates.

Our major offers several different tracks, allowing students to customize their course of study. Students may specialize in two or three languages, or pair language and literature with in-depth study of another discipline (for example, history, art, economics, philosophy, film, political science, etc.). We also offer a minor in Comparative Literature.