Major

Comparative Literature is an interdisciplinary program which approaches literary study from a variety of perspectives.

It examines periods, genres, themes, movements, criticism, and theory from an international viewpoint and explores the ways in which literature relates to other spheres of human expression and to other academic disciplines.

The comparative study of literature is attractive to students who have a background in foreign languages and literatures, who enjoy interdisciplinary study, and who wish to apply the skills of literary analysis to the study of culture.

The Comparative Literature major seeks to provide an opportunity for selective and varied study of two or more literatures in their relation to each other, or for the study of a foreign literature in its relationship to an extraliterary discipline, such as film, music or history.

The major is administered by the Comparative Literature Steering Committee. Each major plan is designed individually by the student in consultation with an advisor and the Chair.

CL10 — Introduction to Comparative Literature — is a prerequisite to the major. We recommend that you take this course as early as possible during your Dartmouth career.