Opportunities for research in Comparative European Literature

The School:
The strengths of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (SMLC) lie in the languages and literatures of Europe, both east and west. For this reason our Comparative Literature Programme might be subtitled: European and European Influenced. There is indeed still much work to be done in having East meet West since the fall of the Wall so many years ago, and we are proudly placed, with our Slavonic Studies subject area, to enable research and teaching in this cross-over area. We cross into the new World as well, having staff working on, for example, Quebecois literature, Mexican and Brazilian, as well as North American Anglophone literature.

Languages on offer in SMLC are: Catalan, Czech, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. Through the auspices of the Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, we also have available courses in basic Estonian, Hungarian and Lithuanian language, culture and society. English language courses can be made available to non-native speakers of English. In the College of Arts, a further selection of languages is available to qualified students upon consultation with the relevant subject areas, including Ancient Greek, Latin, Medieval Latin, Gaelic, Early Gaelic, Medieval Welsh, and Irish, and Old Icelandic. This extremely broad range of languages on offer at the University of Glasgow is unique in Great Britain.

Staff Research Strengths:
As the Comparative Literature Programme is supported by colleagues in the five language areas of SMLC, you are encouraged to look at the research profiles of colleagues in all areas of the School. Research proposals are welcome in any areas where there is some expertise in at least one aspect of the comparative proposal.

Proposals are especially welcome in the following comparative fields:

• European Fairy Tales (19th century): especially German, French, British
• Mediaeval Literature: (epic, Arthurian romance, comic and satirical works)
  especially French, Celtic
• Romanticism: especially German, British, American, Polish
• The Fantastic in Literature, especially French, German, British, American
• Modernism and Avant Garde: especially Spanish, Italian, German, French
• Holocaust Literature: especially Czech, Polish, Russian , Italian
• Fascism and Anti-Fascism: especially Italian, Spanish
• Film: especially French, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Russian
• Visual Arts and the Graphic Novel
• Poetry and Gender: especially Spanish and Portuguese
• 20th Century poetry, especially Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
• Women’s Studies: women in literature; women writers, women as readers; American, British, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Czech, Polish, Russian
• Gender Studies: femininities and masculinities (all sections of the SMLC)
• Postcolonial to Post-Communist
• Culture in a Globalised World
• Multi-Cultural Writing (Exilic and Diasporic Experience in Literature)
• Ibero-Russian comparisons

Remember to check the research web pages for French, German, Hispanic, Italian and Slavonic, too, as Comparative topics may be derived from joint supervision by two staff members. Comparative topics can also comprise work done together with subject areas outwith our School, such as English Literature, Scottish Literature, Celtic and even other disciplines, such as Philosophy, Music, History, etc. Research proposals will be judged on merit and on the condition that appropriate supervision is available.

Further:
SMLC has synergies and strong working relationships throughout the College of Arts, but in particular with the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Centre for Emblem Studies, the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies, English Language and Celtic Studies.