The concentration in Comparative Literature leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree. This program is designed to attract students who wish to pursue an interdisciplinary plan of course work focused on the study of literature as written in various languages and in various parts of the world.

Such a student might come to the University with a strong background in languages in addition to English, and want to work in two or more literatures (one of which can be English). Another student might have a strong interest in literary study and wish to address general, generic, and/or transnational questions that go beyond the boundaries of national literature offered by English and other literature departments. Or a student might wish to pursue an in-depth study of the interrelationship of literature and culture, as well as issues that transcend the traditional demarcations of national literary history and area studies.

These descriptions of academic interest are not mutually exclusive. Each student will design a plan of course work that will suit his or her individual goals and that will take advantage of the rich offerings of this university.

The aim of the following guidelines is to help students develop a balanced and coherent plan for their study. The Director of Undergraduate Studies in Comparative Literature is available to discuss these guidelines with students who are interested in comparative literature.

1. Students must complete a second-year sequence in a language other than English, or demonstrate language ability of an equivalent skill. Students should have completed this requirement, or be well on their way to its completion, by the time of application to the program, normally the end of their second year. See "Participation in the Program" below for further details.

2. Six courses in a major field, or in closely integrated subject areas in more than one field, are required.

3. Four courses in a minor field, or in closely integrated subject areas in more than one field, are required.

4. Two courses that emphasize critical and intellectual methods in comparative literature are required, one of which must be an introduction to the study of comparative literature. See, for example, Comparative Literature 25900 below under "Courses."

5. One directed study course must be devoted to the preparation of the B.A. project (Comparative Literature 29900). The project will be supervised by a faculty member of the student's choice, with that faculty member's consent and the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies; that faculty member may be, but need not be, on the faculty of Comparative Literature. A graduate student in Comparative Literature will serve as a tutor or preceptor for all B.A. projects, working with students on the mechanics of writing and providing tutorial assistance.

6 major field courses

4 minor field courses

2 critical/intellectual methods courses

1 B.A. project (CMLT 29900)

13

Beyond the thirteen courses required for the concentration, the department encourages its students to pursue further language study. Elementary courses in second or third languages cannot, however, be counted toward the total needed to complete the concentration.

The courses in critical/intellectual methods may be counted toward the fulfillment of six courses in the major field or toward four courses in the minor field if their materials are appropriate for those purposes, but the total number of courses presented for the concentration or major must total thirteen.

A typical student wishing to work in two literatures (one of which can be English) might choose two literatures as the major and minor fields. A student interested in literary study across national boundaries with a focus on generic and transnational questions might create a major field along generic lines (e.g., film, the epic, the novel, poetry, drama, or opera); the minor field might be a particular national literature or a portion of such a literature. A student interested in literary and cultural theory might choose theory as either a major or minor field, paired with another field designed along generic lines or those of one or more national literatures.

Courses in the various literature departments and in General Studies in the Humanities are obviously germane to the building of any individual program. A student is likely to find courses in the Humanities Collegiate Division and in the Department of History that extend beyond the usual definitions of literature (e.g., film, art, music, and history) to be appropriate to her or his individual program of study. Study abroad offers an attractive means of fulfilling various aims of this program.

Participation in the Program. Students should express their interest in the concentration as soon as possible, normally before the end of their second year. The first step is to meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to consult about a program of study. Thereafter, students are required to submit a written proposal of about one thousand words in length that consists of two parts: (1) a statement explaining how the proposed plan of study will take advantage of existing College offerings and meet departmental requirements; and (2) a list of proposed courses (as well as alternates) and indications of how they will fulfill the department's requirements. Applicants must also submit a list of completed courses and a list of courses in which they are currently registered. Special mention should be made of language courses or other language training that affirms a student's level of language proficiency. Each proposal will be evaluated on the basis of the interest of the student and his or her achievement in the study of languages needed to meet the goals of the intended course of study.

Concentrators should demonstrate proficiency in a literary language (other than English) that is relevant to their proposed course of study (as indicated in requirement number one above). This requirement must be met at the time of application or shortly thereafter. Such proficiency is measured by the completion of a second-year sequence in the language, or by demonstration of an equivalent skill. By the time of graduation, concentrators should also achieve the level of language study needed to obtain a Second Language Proficiency Certificate from the College. This requirement is intended to underscore the program's commitment to the study of foreign languages, and to encourage and facilitate study abroad as a part of the course of study. Language ability is essential to work in comparative literature of whatever sort. The Department of Comparative Literature takes language preparation into consideration when evaluating applications, but it will also help students achieve their individual goals by suggesting programs of study that will add to their language expertise as appropriate.

B.A. Project. One obvious choice for a B.A. project is a substantial essay in comparative literary study. This option should not, however, rule out other possibilities. Two examples might be a translation from a foreign literature with accompanying commentary, or a written project based on research done abroad in another language and culture relating to comparative interests. Students are urged to base their project on comparative concepts, and to make use of the language proficiency that they will develop as they meet the program's requirements.

Grading. All courses to be used in the concentration must be taken for a letter grade, which must be a B- or higher.

Special Honors. To be eligible for special honors, students must earn an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher, and a grade point average of 3.5 or higher in the concentration. They must also complete a B.A. essay or project that is judged exceptional in intellectual and/or creative merit by the first and second readers.

Advising. In addition to their College adviser, concentrators should consult on an ongoing basis with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Comparative Literature. Further advice and counseling will be available from the preceptor for the program and from the faculty member who supervises the student's B.A. project.

David Bevington, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities and Departments of Comparative Literature and English Language & Literature, and the College

Loren Kruger, Professor, Departments of English Language & Literature and Comparative Literature, Committee on African & African-American Studies, and the College

Saree Makdisi, Associate Professor, Departments of Comparative Literature and English Language & Literature, and the College

Françoise Meltzer, Professor, Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, the Divinity School, and the College; Chair, Department of Comparative Literature

Michael J. Murrin, David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor in the Humanities, Departments of English Language & Literature and Comparative Literature, the Divinity School, and the College

THOMAS PAVEL, Professor, Departments of Romance Languages & Literature and Comparative Literature, and the College

Lawrence Rothfield, Associate Professor, Departments of English Language & Literature and Comparative Literature, and the College

Joshua Scodel, Associate Professor, Departments of English Language & Literature and Comparative Literature, Committee on General Studies in the Humanities, and the College

Katie Trumpener, Professor, Departments of Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature, and English Language & Literature, and Committee on General Studies in the Humanities, and the College

YURI TSIVIAN, Professor, Departments of Art History, Slavic Languages & Literatures, Comparative Literature, and Cinema & Media Studies, and the College

Robert von Hallberg, Professor, Departments of Germanic Studies, English Language & Literature, and Comparative Literature, and the College

Anthony C. Yu, Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities and the Divinity School, Departments of Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages & Civilizations, and English Language & Literature, and Committee on Social Thought

20500/30500. History and Theory of Drama I (=ANST 21200, CLAS 31200, CMLT 20500/30500, ENGL 13800/31000, GSHU 24200/34200). May be taken in sequence with CMLT 20600/30600 or individually. This course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in Western drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, medieval religious drama, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Jonson, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Horace, Sir Philip Sidney, and Dryden. The goal is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene, and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the class. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended. D. Bevington, D. N. Rudall. Autumn.

20600/30600. History and Theory of Drama II (=CMLT 20600/30600, ENGL 13900/31100, GSHU 24300/34300). May be taken in sequence with CMLT 20500/30500 or individually. This course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in Western drama from the late seventeenth century into the twentieth: Molière, Goldsmith, Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Wilde, Shaw, Brecht, Beckett, and Stoppard. Attention is also paid to theorists of the drama, including Stanislavsky, Artaud, and Grotowski. The goal is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene, and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with some other members of the class. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended. D. Bevington, D. N. Rudall. Winter.

21300. Theories of Narrative (=CMLT 21300MAPH 35100). In this class, we discuss literary "ways of telling" and recent critical methods of understanding and analyzing narrative. Late nineteenth- and twentieth-century novels were the basis, as well as the focus, for much of twentieth-century narrative theory. We analyze these theories while reading and thinking through a wider range of narratives stretching from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. J. Phillips. Winter.

21400. Postcolonial Art and Theory (=CMLT 21400, MAPH 34100). This course examines the art and theory of postcoloniality. It includes readings by such notable critics of colonialism and postcolonialism as Homi Bhabha, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Gayatri Spivak. These authors illuminate our discussion of specific literary texts, films, and pieces of contemporary art. We focus on questions of culture, violence, and the ethics or social responsibility of the reader/spectator, critic, and artist. The debates surrounding the 1989 uproar around Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses is a central concern of the class. We attempt to make sense of the contradictions between cultural and political rights, and between individual and collective rights. We also examine questions involving art and violence: violence as a formal technique and the act of violence due to art. T Fernando. Winter.

22400/32400. History of International Cinema I: Silent Era (=ARTH 28500/38500, CMLT 22400/32400, CMST 28500/48500, COVA 26500, ENGL 29300/48700, MAPH 33600). This is the first part of a two-quarter course. The two parts may be taken individually, but taking them in sequence is helpful. The aim of this course is to introduce students to what was singular about the art and craft of silent film. Its general outline is chronological; we also discuss main national schools and international trends of filmmaking. Y. Tsivian. Autumn.

24400/34400. Lost Illusions by Balzac (=CMLT 24400/34400, FNDL 21200, FREN 31200). PQ: Open only to concentrators in Fundamentals and Comparative Literature and to graduate students in Romance Languages and Literatures. Concentrators in Comparative Literature must have completed that department's language requirement. This course studies Balzac's masterpiece Lost Illusions in the context of this author's oeuvre. We address issues such as the rise of the modern individual, the tensions between talent and social pressures, and the struggle between the urge to succeed and moral responsibility. We also examine the question of literary realism and idealism, and Balzac's place in the history of the modern novel. T. Pavel. Spring.

24500/34500. Kierkegaard (=CMLT 24500/34500, GRMN 25200/35200, MAPH 35000, SCTH 41400). The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55), a relatively obscure figure in his own times, made a tremendous impact on twentieth-century philosophy. This course seeks to work out Kierkegaard's significance for modern thought by locating his aesthetics, ethics, and theology within the general context of the erosion of romantic-idealistic discursive networks in the 1840s. The focus is on the most productive period of his philosophical thinking from The Concept of Irony (1841) to the Postscript (1846). Students interested in reading Kierkegaard in the original will have the opportunity to receive instruction in the Danish language after each seminar session. C. Tang. Spring.

24600. The Politics of Adultery (=CMLT 24600, GNDR 25500, SPAN 25500). This course examines sexual and textual promiscuity in the nineteenth-century European novel. Reading major examples of the novel of adultery (i.e., Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Clarín's La Regenta), we attempt to understand why the plot of female infidelity came to dominate the novel of this period. Placing the works side by side, we explore how Clarín put Flaubert's adultery novel into dialogue with other texts and genres (e.g., the Bildungsroman, the prostitute's tale, and melodrama) to draw out its social and political implications. Secondary readings may include essays by Roland Barthes, Jules de Gaultier, Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida, Sigmund Freud, René Girard, Fredric Jameson, Barbara Johnson, Georg Lukács, Jeffrey Mehlman, Franco Moretti, Ronald Paulson, Tony Tanner, and Slavoj Zizek. Classes conducted in English. E. Amann. Autumn.

25900/35900. Medieval Epic (=CMLT 25900/35900, ENGL 15800/35800). In 2001-02, this course fulfills the requirement for one of the two critical/intellectual methods courses for CMLT concentrators. Major works such as Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Cid, and II Pergerio are examined. Attention is also given to poems such as the alliterative Morte d'Arthur. M. Murrin. Winter.

29100/39100. Renaissance Epic (=CMLT 29100/39100, ENGL 16300/36300, RLIT 30900). The emphasis of this class is on the neoclassical epic, its theory, and its connections with history. We read Camoe's Lusiads, the epic about the first European voyage around Africa to India; Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, the epic about the First Crusade that influenced The Faerie Queene; plus his Discourses on the Art of Poetry, in which he sets up a theory of neoclassical epic that also affected Milton. Finally, we read Milton's Paradise Lost. M. Murrin. Winter.

29700. Reading Course. PQ: Consent of instructor and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Must be taken for a letter grade. This course cannot normally satisfy distribution requirements for CMLT concentrators; if a special case can be made, apply to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for permission. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

29900. B.A. Project: Comparative Literature. PQ. Consent of instructor and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. In consultation with a faculty member, students devote the equivalent of a one-quarter course to the preparation of a B.A. project. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

31300. Theory of Literature: The Classical Background (=CMLT 31300, RLIT 37100). PQ: Consent of instructor. A close reading of texts by Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Boccaccio, Dante, selected theorists of the Italian Renaissance, Sidney, and Dryden, for the purpose of providing resources for current work in literary theory and religious criticism. A. Yu. Autumn.

32900. Mythologies of Evil (=CMLT 32900, HREL 40400, RLIT 40400). PQ: Consent of instructor. Lectures and discussions on representative religious and literary texts, including a film or two on the myths of the evil West and the evil non-West. W. Doniger, A. Yu. Winter.