Undergraduate

Is a degree in Comp Lit a good fit for me?

If you love to read; if you are curious about how ideas and images pass between literature and other arts and media; if you are interested in the power of language to reshape the world; if you want to know how literature and the arts explore ideas and experiences, reflect and transform the individuals and cultures that create them, define a community, and create contact between cultures—comparative literature may be for you.

A Comparative Literature B.A. or a minor in either Comparative Literature or Comparative Arts will encourage you to think in original and exciting ways about the relationships among literatures, media, the arts, and ideas—and the cultures and environments that produce them. Through exploration of literature, arts, and ideas of a range of cultures, comparative literature prepares you for a globalized world.

What is comparative literature?

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Why study comparative literature?

The Department of Comparative Literature offers you the freedom to chart your own path through our broad range of courses and to combine our courses with those of other departments. Our degrees pair will with any other major or minor, encouraging you to think in original and exciting ways about relationships among literatures, arts, cultures, and environments.

By providing you with the opportunity to make innovative connections among a diverse array of human arts and experiences, comparative literature prepares you for a globalized world.

Comparative Literature offers a B.A. degree and two minors, one in Comparative Literature and the other in Comparative Arts. More details about these options can be found in the College Bulletin and in the Comparative Literature Major Guide.

We are part of the College of Arts + Sciences

A degree in Comp Lit provides students with the foundational skills of a liberal arts education, which are prized by employers and vital to a 21st-century career.

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Preparation for a meaningful career

Your degree will provide you with a diverse set of skills and knowledge, preparing you for a variety of work environments. We offer and encourage participation in internships.

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People trained in the humanities who study Shakespeare’s poetry, or Cezanne’s paintings, say, have learned to play with big concepts, and to apply new ways of thinking to difficult problems that can’t be analyzed in conventional ways.

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