Comparative Literature at Oregon boasts the oldest doctoral program on the West Coast. Since its founding in 1962, our graduate program has retained a sense of its traditional grounding while also adapting to a constantly evolving field. In the spirit of vital re-definition, Oregon offers one of the nation’s most flexible and innovative doctoral programs in comparative literature, providing a solid foundation in theoretical and historical approaches essential to working across national traditions, historical periods, theoretical models, and media.

A constellation of core seminars is designed to foster a comprehensive understanding of scholarly method, exposing students not only to contemporary texts and theorists but also to controversies and debates that have shaped the field historically. At the heart of the doctoral curriculum are four foundational seminars: Graduate Studies in Translation (COLT 613), Graduate Studies in Comparative Literature: The History and State of the Discipline (COLT 614), Graduate Studies in Comparative Literature: Contemporary Theorists (COLT 615); Transmedial Aesthetics (COLT 616). From this core, our students work outward, collaborating on a broad range of comparative projects with faculty across the Oregon campus.

Last but not least, Oregon’s Department of Comparative Literature is known for the humane environment it cultivates—a community conducive to interdisciplinarity, cooperation, and experimentation.