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Comparative Literature

Paul Allen Miller, Director

Core Faculty
Charles J. Alber, Ph.D., Indiana University, 1971 (Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian)
Amittai Aviram, Ph.D., Yale University, 1984 (English)
Kwame Senu Neville Dawes, Ph.D., University of New Brunswick, 1992 (English)
Martin J. Donougho, Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1980 (Philosophy)
Jeanne M. Garane, Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1994 (French and Classics)
Scott Gwara, Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1993 (English)
Freeman Henry, Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1973 (French and Classics)
Judith Kalb, Ph.D. Stanford University, 1996 (Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian)
Maria Angelica G. Lopes, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1980 (Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese)
Paul Allen Miller, Ph.D., University of Texas, 1989 (French and Classics)
Agnes Mueller, Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, 1997 (Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian)
J. Alexander Ogden, Ph.D. Stanford University, 1997 (Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian)
Celso de Oliveira, Ph.D., University of South Carolina, 1976 (Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese)
Lawrence Rhu, Ph.D., Harvard University, 1987 (English)
Phillip B. Rollinson, Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1968 (English)
Meili Steele, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, 1984 (English)
Nicholas Vazsonyi, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1997 (Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian)
Sarah Westphal, Ph.D., Yale University, 1983 (Medieval and Women's Studies)

Consulting Faculty
Ward Briggs, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, 1974 (French and Classics)
John Duffy, Ph.D., Indiana University, 1995 (French and Classics)
Ina Rae Hark, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1975 (English)
Ramona Lagos, Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1982 (Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese)
Nancy E. Lane, Ph.D., Indiana University, 1976 (French and Classics)
Kevin Lewis, Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1980 (Religious Studies)
Alfred Nordman, Ph.D., Universität Hamburg, 1986 (Philosophy)
Faust Pauluzzi, Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1980 (Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese)
Cassie Premo Steele, Ph. D., Emory University, 1996 (Women's Studies)
Tan Ye, Ph. D., Washington University, 1991 (Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian)

Professor Emeritus
Samuel Ashley Brown, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1958 (English)


Overview

The Comparative Literature Program offers a major and a minor. CPLT 270 (World Literature), CPLT 300 (Introduction to Comparative Literature), and the three survey classes CPLT 301, 302, and 303 form the core of both the major and the minor in different ways. These courses provide the student with exposure to a broad range of diverse literary traditions. Both the major and the minor ensure study in the student's chosen foreign language as well as in various literatures and literary relationships across the boundaries of language communities. The major also requires some study in a second foreign language.

Degree Requirements

(120 hours)

1. General Education Requirements (53-62 hours)

For a general outline of other general education equirements see "College of Liberal Arts."

2. Prerequisite (3 hours)

CPLT 270 Introduction to World Literatures (3 hours)

3. Corequisite (3 hours)

One 122-level course in the second foreign language.

4. Major Requirements (27 hours)

CPLT 300: Introduction to Comparative Literature (3 hours)
Two courses from CPLT 301, 302, or 303: Great Books of the Western World I and II and Great Books of the Eastern World, respectively (note: these courses are cross-listed with ENGL 390, 391, and 392) (6 hours)
One elective course in CPLT at the 300 level or above (note: CPLT courses 380-386 are cross-listed with ENGL 380-386) (3 hours)
One 415 topics course in CPLT Two 300-level or above foreign-language courses in literature (6 hours)
One 300-level or above course in the literature of a second foreign language (may be in translation) (3 hours)
CPLT 499 (thesis) (3 hours)

5. Cognate or Minor (12-18 hours)

6. Electives (7-22 hours)

Minor Requirements

(18 hours)

CPLT 270 World Literature (3 hours)
CPLT 300 Introduction to Comparative Literature (3 hours)
Two courses from CPLT 301, 302, or 303: Great Books of the Western World I and II and Great Books of the Eastern World, respectively (note: these courses are cross-listed with ENGL 390, 391, and 392) (6 hours)
One elective course in CPLT at the 300 level or above (note: CPLT courses 380-386 are cross-listed with ENGL 380-386) (3 hours)
One 300-level or above literature course in the student's foreign language (3 hours)


Course Descriptions (CPLT)

Comparative literature courses are taught using books in translation.

  • 270 -- World Literature. {=ENGL 270} (3) Selected masterpieces of world literature from antiquity to the present.
  • 300 -- Introduction to Comparative Literature. (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Introduction to ways of reading and comparing literatures drawn from diverse languages and cultures.
  • 301 -- Great Books of the Western World I. {=ENGL 390} (3) European masterpieces from antiquity to the beginning of the Renaissance.
  • 302 -- Great Books of the Western World II. {=ENGL 391} (3) European masterpieces from the Renaissance to the present.
  • 303 -- Great Books of the Eastern World. {=ENGL 392} (3) Classical and contemporary poetry and prose of the Middle and Far East.
  • 380 -- Epic to Romance. {=ENGL 380} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Comprehensive exploration of medieval and other pre-Renaissance literature using texts representative of the evolution of dominant literary forms.
  • 381 -- The Renaissance. {=ENGL 381} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Literature of the Renaissance, in its cultural contexts, explored through representative works.
  • 382 -- The Enlightenment. {=ENGL 382} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Literature of the Enlightenment in its cultural contexts, explored through representative works.
  • 383 -- Romanticism. {=ENGL 383} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Literature of Romanticism, in its cultural contexts, explored through representative works.
  • 384 -- Realism. {=ENGL 384} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Literature of Realism in its cultural contexts, explored through representative works.
  • 385 -- Modernism. {=ENGL 385} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Literature of Modernism in its cultural contexts, explored through representative works.
  • 386 -- Postmodernism. {=ENGL 386} (3) (Prereq: ENGL 101 and 102) Literature of Postmodernism in its cultural contexts, explored through representative works.
  • 415 -- Topics in Comparative Literary Relations. (3) Topics involving two or more national literatures. Topics to be announced in master schedule by suffix and title.
  • 499 -- Senior Thesis. (3)
  • 597 -- Comparative Studies in Film. {=FILM 597} (3) Topics in film from an international perspective. National cinematic traditions are compared and contrasted.

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