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The new undergraduate comp lit major went into effect in Fall 2008. See The New Major in Comparative Literature for more details. If you declared the COLT Major prior to Fall 2008, but you wish to enroll in the New Major, see Prof. Calhoon for advising.

The Major in
Comparative Literature

(for students declaring the major prior to Fall '08)

 

See also: How to Declare a Major in Comparative Literature

See also: The New Major in Comparative Literature

 

The study of Comparative Literature encourages us to ask some important and interesting questions: Why do we read literature? Why are some forms of literature considered more important, more “literary,” than others? Who writes and who controls what is written and whether it is published? What new forms of literature are currently emerging? How does literature intersect with history, politics, science, other arts, and other areas of knowledge? What are the boundaries between literature and other products of culture, such as film, art and advertising?

Oregon's Comparative Literature Program has an international reputation. The oldest graduate program in its discipline on the West Coast, it is the home of the principal journal in the field, Comparative Literature , which this year celebrates its fifty-fifth anniversary. The major emphasizes both the close study of national literary traditions and the theoretical enterprises that have long made up the comparative study of literature. While the student is encouraged to achieve competence in at least two national literatures, he or she is also exposed to a variety of theoretical and methodological discussions not specific to a particular culture.

Moreover, the questions that animate our discipline enable us to see that any literature is in and of itself comparative, crossed by networks of cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and social interdependency. While embarking on an in-depth study of two national literatures and their corresponding languages and cultures, the student majoring in comparative literature will also explore speculative and interdisciplinary avenues that lead beyond (though ultimately back into) his or her chosen literatures, as well as into disciplines represented by the program's participating faculty, such as philosophy, geography, art history, and women's studies.

Requirements

Fifteen courses are required, two of which are lower-division and the remainder upper-division, and completion of three years of a foreign language or its equivalent are also required.

Required courses include:

  • Either COLT 101, “Introduction to Comparative Literature: History and Genre,” or COLT 102, “Introduction to Comparative Literature: Culture and Context”
  • One COLT 200-level course, such as “The World of Fiction,” “The World of Poetry,” “The World of Film”
  • COLT 301, “Approaches to Comparative Literature,” an introduction to the critical methodology of the field

Four courses from each of three core areas:

  • Core A: Comparative Literature. Four upper-division courses, three of which must be taken under the COLT prefix. A fourth course, taken in another department or program, and subject to the approval of the undergraduate adviser, will be chosen in accordance with the student's focus.
  • Core B: Primary National Literature. Four upper-division courses in the student's primary national-linguistic tradition. Three of these should be courses in which the literature is read in the original language (and will likely be in the department responsible for teaching that language). The fourth course should be one offered under the COLT prefix that intersects with the primary national literature.
  • Core C: Secondary National Literature. Four upper-division courses in the student's secondary national-linguistic tradition, which may be in the English language. At least two of the courses should be courses in which the literature is read in the original language. The other two may be COLT-prefix courses.

Focus

  • Within one year of declaring the major, but no later than the beginning of the junior year, each student designates a focus. The focus is meant to help define the comparative literature major for the individual student. It does not represent additional course work; rather, it is a category through which course work is coherently organized. The focus may be defined as a genre (the novel, tragedy, autobiography), a period or movement (Romanticism, the Baroque), a theoretical or methodological problem (literature and psychoanalysis, art and politics), or an issue (literature and resistance, feminism, nationalism).

Foreign Language Proficiency

  • Completion of three years of a foreign language or the equivalent is required. Entry-level advising will include ascertaining what the individual student needs to become linguistically proficient.

Like any major, Comparative Literature is limited as to how many courses it can require a student to take. Accordingly, students are encouraged, when possible, to satisfy their general education requirements with courses that will complement their major. For example, a student whose national literature is French might look for courses in French history (social sciences); another whose national literature is German might consider courses in German philosophy (humanities). Someone with a strong methodological interest in structuralism might look for offerings in linguistics (humanities).

Double Majors

Double majors should plan to complete all the requirements for both majors.