comparative literature phd

Comparative Literature Master Program

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The Comparative Literature M.A. Degree

The Department does not admit terminal M.A. candidates, nor does it require a Master's degree as a prerequisite for the doctorate. Students who are not recommended to proceed in the doctoral program at the end of the first year may take an M.A. by completing one year of full-time course work in residence (normally four courses each semester), satisfying two of the three language requirements for the Ph.D., and completing a Master's thesis consisting of an essay of 50-60 pages on a comparative subject. Alternatively, a student will receive the M.A. upon completion of the comparative project and advancement to doctoral candidacy.

Comparative Literature PHD Project

While the historical "coverage" by itself is not the aim of comparative literature, the Department does require a major literature examination just before the fifth semester which has coverage as a partial goal, in order to demonstrate the student's professional capacities in her/his national literature. It also requires a written comparative project, to be submitted in writing and presented orally during the sixth semester. This project allows the student to treat work from more than one literary tradition, and may become part of the dissertation. A topic will be chosen in consultation with a faculty comittee and worked out with the Director of Graduate Study. It is expected that the comparative project will be completed and approved, and the student advanced to doctoral candidacy, by the end of the third year.

Comparative Literature PHD Courses Work

Students entering with the B.A. will normally take 15 advanced literature courses and graduate seminars, spread over three years in the proportions respectively of 8, 6, 1, two or three of which may be individual work supervised by a staff member. In special circumstances students may obtain up to a year of course credit for graduate work done at other institutions. Students who enter already having completed some advanced work may be asked to proceed more quickly. Individual programs are worked out in consultation with the Director of Graduate Study to include:
a substantial core of courses in Comparative Literature, at least one per semester during the first two years of study
a substantial core of courses primarily in one national literature along with significant related work in at least two others. Courses taken in the second and third literatures must include a minimum of two regularly scheduled graduate seminars (or 100 level where appropriate with approval of the Director of Graduate Study)
a spread of courses comprising work in all three major genres (poetry, drama, narrative) and covering a significant range of distinct cultural epochs (medieval, romantic, modern, and so forth)
some work in the area of literary theory, literary criticism, or literary translation.
if pertinent, courses relating literature to other fields of inquiry or expression; for example, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, history, music, or the visual arts

Comparative Literature Graduate Program PHD

For admission to the doctoral program, students usually will present evidence of sound training in literature written in three languages, one of which may be English. They will be expected to develop a strong enough competence in one of these literatures to be qualified to teach in a national literature department since comparatists are often hired in such departments or have joint appointments.
The Department’s students and faculty pursue studies in the history, theory, and criticism of literature extending beyond the limits set by national and linguistic boundaries. Our PhD program is designed to provide for the needs of students who wish to develop a unified program of study that involves literature in three or more languages. Students take a combination of Comparative Literature courses and courses in the departments of their elected literary fields. Courses in other disciplines may be included when appropriate in individual programs. Most of the department’s faculty also participate in one of the other departments of language and literature; members of those departments are regularly engaged in the work of this department and are generally available upon request for consultation.

The major literature is studied in a cross-cultural context linking it with the other two diachronically or synchronically. Students may pursue literary currents or follow the evolution of ideas or themes across linguistic boundaries, or may study features of genre, style, convention, etc. The program may also emphasize theory including poetics, stylistics, semiology, feminist, socio-cultural, post-structuralist, and post-colonial approaches.

Comparative Literature PHD Requirements

The Department of Comparative Literature offers “Comparative Literature” as a secondary field in GSAS to enrich the background of PhD students in other departments who seek to do research and teach across the institutional boundaries of national languages and literatures. Students in the various departments of literary studies may eventually be called upon to teach comparative courses or courses in general or world literature. The secondary field in comparative literature introduces students to basic issues in the field as well as providing a graduate literary theory course for students who have not already taken such a course in their primary department.

While we recognize the degree to which literatures in a single language constitute a coherent tradition, the Department of Literature and Comparative Literature seeks to develop an awareness of how literary works move across language borders, both in the original language and in translation. We seek to call attention to theoretical issues shared across not only the boundaries of languages but across very different traditions.

Prerequisites

An ability to work in literatures in at least three languages. Normally this will be demonstrated by coursework in which at least some of the primary readings are in the language. In certain circumstances (for example, if one of the languages is the student’s native language) the DGS may waive the requirement that competence in a language be demonstrated by coursework. If English is used as one of the languages, the other two languages should show some breadth; that is, they may not be closely allied, either linguistically or by academic convention (e.g., Spanish and Portuguese, Urdu and Hindi, classical and modern Chinese, or Greek and Latin). The judgment regarding what can legitimately count for the set of three languages will be at the discretion of the DGS.

Requirements

Four courses, one of which should be the Comparative Literature Proseminar and two of which must be Comparative Literature seminars at the 200 level. The remaining course requirements will be met by either seminars in Comparative Literature or 100¬level Literature courses (which normally count for graduate credit in Comparative Literature).

Successful completion of the Second-Year Paper on a comparative topic, as prescribed for students in Comparative Literature, by the end of the Spring semester of the second year.

Contact the DGS for any further questions.

Please note: Applicants for the PhD in Comparative Literature must also submit a writing sample—a paper or scholarly work—in English.

Further information regarding courses and programs of study in comparative literature may be found on our website or by contacting the DGS.

Applications for admission and grants-in-aid, together with information regarding admission procedures, may be found on the Admissions Office webpage, or may be obtained by writing to the Admissions Office, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Holyoke Center 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. We encourage online submission of the application.

Special Program Of The PhD in Comparative Literature

The PhD in Comparative Literature with a Special Program in the Study of Oral Tradition and Literature

Courses

As for the PhD in Comparative Literature, with the following amendments: The number of required courses for the PhD in comparative literature with a special program in the Study of Oral Tradition and Literature is 16, of which only two may be reading courses; at least 14 are to be letter-graded courses (i.e., not reading courses). Any question regarding the nature of courses taken should be resolved with advisors from the departmental Committee on the Study of Oral Tradition and Literature before submission of study cards. If candidates or members of the departmental Committee have questions, they should pose them to the Curriculum Committee.

Each candidate will normally be expected to balance coursework in the following manner: four courses in the Department of Literature and Comparative Literature or in other departments as deemed appropriate by the departmental Committee on the Study of Oral Tradition and Literature; three in a first literature; two in a second literature; and two in a third literature.

Languages

As for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Comparative Literature. In addition, one of the languages offered as one of the candidate’s three literatures must be represented by (or at least include) a substantial corpus that is independent of written transmission and this is derived from collections of performances recorded under strictly supervised conditions of fieldwork. A major resource for such purposes is the Milman Parry Collection at Harvard University.