Ph.D. Program Admissions

Professor Lisa Freinkel
Director of Graduate Studies

 

Thanks for your interest in the University of Oregon Program in Comparative Literature.

Since its inception forty-five years ago (ours is the oldest Comp. Lit. program on the West Coast), the graduate program has offered a flexible, individualized course of study without sacrificing a classic commitment to language and literary history.
 
Our starting point is the conviction that literary traditions are best understood when contextualized across national and cultural boundaries. Such contextualization requires a sound appreciation of both philology and bibliography; linguistic training thus remains, in our view, the sine qua non of Comparative Literature. We further maintain that, in order to thrive professionally, every scholar in the discipline must be closely trained in a primary national literature. At the same time, since our students and colleagues alike differ widely in their language backgrounds, a commitment to comparative study requires a firm grasp of the emergent field of translation studies, as well as preparation in the pedagogy of literature in translation. Finally we uphold that Comparative Literature demands of its scholars an acute and self-conscious focus on methodology. The discipline is inherently interdisciplinary; how and why we compare is often no less important than what we are comparing.
 
For students entering with a B.A. only, the program is intended to take six years from entrance to the Ph.D.
 
At present, we do not offer a terminal masters degree. Instead, students will normally become eligible for the M.A. on passing their Ph.D. qualifying exams.
 
Applications for Fall graduate matriculation must be received by January 15th. Typically, candidates are notified about admission decisions by the end of February.