Founded in 1949, the Department of Comparative Literature at Indiana University is one of the oldest in the United States. Over the course of more than sixty years, the department has been a pioneer on multiple fronts—advancing, defining, and leading the field.

Ours was one of the first programs in the nation to offer an undergraduate bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature. We were an early champion of the professional academic study of film, and continue to offer an innovative program in the study of Comparative Arts.

Comparative Literature at Indiana University has a strong reputation for engagement with contemporary theories of aesthetics and interpretation, as evidenced in the pages of the Yearbook of Comparative Literature.