Comparative Literature

Comparative Literature is dedicated to the study of literature in the broadest possible framework -- interlingual, intercultural and interdisciplinary. As it is taught at this University, and at many other North American institutions, Comparative Literature implies the study of the interrelationships of literature with other cultural practices and with other disciplines: philosophy, psychology and politics; all problems in the field of literary criticism and theory; the study of broad currents of thought and style and of major literary schools; the study of literary genres and forms; the study of motifs and themes; the study of the presence of a work of literature, an author, a whole literature or even a country, region or culture in another national literature, region or culture; the study of authors writing in different languages but linked by contacts and intertextualities. Our program also includes international studies in popular culture and places increasing emphasis on popular literary genres and film. Moreover, the program has developed new areas of study such as those of marginalized and post-colonial literature, women's writing and the empirical study of literary response.