Comparative Literature, B.A.

The discipline of Comparative Literature promotes the study of intercultural relations across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Appealing to the desire to transcend a merely national point of view, it enables the student to develop a uniquely transnational perspective on imaginative works from antiquity to post modernity. The program at The College of Wooster is interdepartmental in character and includes both explicitly comparative courses and courses that focus on a particular national literature, both in the original and in translation.

Major in Comparative Literature

Consists of fifteen courses:

ENGL 12000 -ENGL 12032
Two courses from Group I
Four courses beyond the 10200-level in a foreign language department. (One of the four courses may be in translation. When department offerings allow, at least two should be from Group II or III.)
Two courses from national literatures other than the four courses beyond the 102 level. (These may be selected from Groups II and III.)
Three electives, selected from Groups I, II, and III and/or from beyond the 102 level in a foreign language.
CMLT 40100 - Junior Independent Study
CMLT 45100 - Independent Study Thesis
CMLT 45200 - Independent Study Thesis

Special Notes

CMLT 40100 , CMLT 45100 , and CMLT 45200 will all involve projects of a comparative character; the student may select an adviser from any of the departments that participate in the program; the project must be approved by the chair of the Comparative Literature Curriculum Committee by the end of the second week of the semester in which the student is enrolled in CMLT 40100 and CMLT 45100 .
Courses applied toward a Comparative Literature major may not be taken on an S/NC basis.
Only grades of C- or better are accepted for the major or minor.

Group I: Comparative Courses

ENGL-120xx Investigations in Literary & Cultural Studies

CMLT 23600 Comparative Film Studies

CMLT 29000 Seminar in Comparative Studies

Group II: National Literature in Translation

Chinese Studies

CHIN 22200 Women in Chinese Literature
CHIN 22300 Chinese Cinema As Translation Culture

Classical Studies

AMST 22000 Mythology of the Ancient World
AMST 22100 Ancient Theater: Tragedy & Comedy

German Studies

GRMN 22700 German Literatuer in Translation
GRMN 22800 German Film & Society

Russian Studies

RUSS 21001 Russian Civilization: From Folklore to Philosophy
RUSS 22000 Russian Culture Through Film
RUSS 25000 Russian Literature the Age of Dostevsky/Tolstoy
RUSS 26000 The Artist & the Tyrant Creating a Perfect World

Spanish

SPAN 28000 Hispanic Film
SPAN 39900 Special Topics

Group III: National Literature in the Original

English

ENGL 210xx Culture
ENGL 220xx Writers
ENGL 230xx History
ENGL 240xx Text
ENGL 250xx Readers’ Responses to Texts
ENGL 300xx Seminar in Literary Studies

French

FREN 22000 Introduction to Francophone Texts
FREN 32200 Studies in the 17th Century

German Studies

GRMN 26000 Kulturkunde: Introduction to German Studies
GRMN 300xx
GRMN 34000 Major Themes in German Literature

Spanish

SPAN 30100 Cervantes: Don Quixote
SPAN 30500 The Contemporary Latin American Novel
SPAN 30900 Trends in Spanish American Literature