Comparative Literature - the discipline

What is Comparative Literature? It is a question often asked, not least by those who work in the field themselves. Sometimes the terms World Literature or Global Literature are used instead, often to distinguish modern academic ventures from their predecessors of around 50 years ago, when the Comparative Literature Departments of post-war America became intellectually significant. Whatever it is called, this discipline is ‘not a set canon of texts, but a mode of reading’ (David Damrosch). It is, in fact, a discipline which continually questions disciplinary boundaries—and indeed all other boundaries—those of geographical nations, states or peoples, those of time, of genre, of method. If you study a theme—say Death, or the Hero—and you see what is said about it in myth, in advertising, in a Japanese film and a 19th century French novel, or else by anthropologists and by psychologists—the potential to shake up traditional structures of knowledge is practically unlimited. Broadly speaking, Comparative topics may be thematic (‘Death in Literature’), generic (‘The 19th-Century Novel of Realism’), epochal (‘The Romantic Age in Europe’) or cross –disciplinary (‘Text and Music in the German Lied’). What it is not is singularly geographical: this is what sets it apart from traditional national language and literature programmes. Comparative Literature is therefore uniquely placed to address the issues of globalisation and post- or trans-nationalism of the 21st Century.

Although you may read and work on some works in translation on the Comparative Literature MPhil, we stress at the University of Glasgow the imperative to learn several languages well and to be open to new ones constantly. The Comparat(iv)ist has a tough challenge: to have some areas of solid strength but also to allow him/herself to sally forth into the unknown, constantly moving in and out of the comfort zone. If you are interested in this area of study but lack the training in foreign languages, you may choose the MPhil in Comparative Literature in Translation, where you can study texts available in English.

For further information, contact:

Dr Laura Martin
Hetherington Building
University of Glasgow, G12 8RS
Tel: 0141 330 6407
Email: Laura.Martin@glasgow.ac.uk