Harvard University has offered courses in comparative literature since 1894. The Department of Comparative Literature was established by vote of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on April 10, 1906, and was reorganized upon its present basis in 2007 with the merging of the graduate department of Comparative Literature and the undergraduate Literature Concentration to form a unified department. 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 number of courses required for the PhD in Comparative Literature is sixteen, of which at least eight should be graduate (200-level) seminars. Candidates may arrange to produce extra work, typically in the form of a graduate-style research paper, so as to receive 200-level credit for courses that are listed at the 100-level in the Courses of Instruction. The remaining 8 courses may include 100-level courses, 200-level “conference courses” (reading courses not requiring a seminar paper), or language courses. With permission of the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), up to four language courses may be counted toward the degree. Such Students wishing to receive 200-level course credit for a 100-level course should make the necessary arrangements early in the term when the course is being taken because they must be approved by the course instructor and the DGS. The necessary approval form is available from the departmental office or may be downloaded from this website.
The number of courses required for the PhD in Comparative Literature is sixteen, of which at least eight should be graduate (200-level) seminars. Candidates may arrange to produce extra work, typically in the form of a graduate-style research paper, so as to receive 200-level credit for courses that are listed at the 100-level in the Courses of Instruction. The remaining 8 courses may include 100-level courses, 200-level “conference courses” (reading courses not requiring a seminar paper), or language courses. With permission of the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), up to four language courses may be counted toward the degree. Such Students wishing to receive 200-level course credit for a 100-level course should make the necessary arrangements early in the term when the course is being taken because they must be approved by the course instructor and the DGS. The necessary approval form is available from the departmental office or may be downloaded from this website.