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Catalog HOME General Information College of Arts and Sciences   General guidelines   Degree Programs   Graduation Requirements   Major and Minor Study   Advising & Academic Standing   Grading   Transfer of Credit   Miscellaneous Information   Abbreviations Conservatory of Music Double-Degree Program Registrar's Office Comparative Literature The Comparative Literature major is an interdepartmental course of study allowing students with sufficient literary background and linguistic preparation to pursue the comparative study of literature, literary theory, literary criticism, and cultural studies across boundaries of genre, historical period, language, and culture. The major draws on the current offerings of relevant departments and from the courses in the Comparative Literature Program. In addition to the specific requirements below, the student may work out an emphasis within the major in consultation with his or her advisor and the program director. Thus several courses presented for the major might focus on a specific period (the Renaissance, the twentieth century), a genre (tragedy, lyric poetry), or an approach (translation, critical theory). Major. A minimum of 30 credit hours (33 for Honors) to be distributed as follows: Comparative Literature 200, three hours. At least one course at the 400 level in a foreign literature taught in the original language (300 in Greek or Latin), three hours. A comparative reading course the senior year to be supervised jointly by faculty members from two appropriate departments, three hours. (Honors for six hours may substitute for this requirement.) Twenty-one hours of literature, theory, criticism, and cultural studies, chosen to include comparative study within or between courses. (Some courses are inherently comparative. For other courses chosen, students can seek ways to inject comparative study, as in selecting paper topics. Up to six hours of appropriate courses in history and theory of art, music, film, theater, and dance and non-literary theory courses on gender, race, and class may be counted.) At least 18 of the hours counted toward the major must be earned at Oberlin College. Students preparing for graduate work in comparative literature should select at least 15 hours in 2 foreign literatures taught in the original languages. Minor. A minimum of 15 credit hours to be distributed as follows: Comparative Literature 200, three hours. At least one course at the 400 level in foreign literature taught in the original language (300 in Greek or Latin), three hours. Nine or more additional hours of literature, theory, criticism, and cultural studies chosen to include comparative study within or between courses. No more than 4 of the 15 hours required for the minor can also be counted toward requirements for another major or minor. Three of the four courses other than CMPL 200 should have some thread of connection. Thus they might be from the same century in different literatures, study the same genre (tragedy, fiction), or pursue a single theme or topic. At least three of the courses (nine hours or more) must be earned at Oberlin College. A minor must be declared before the beginning of the second semester of the junior year, under normal circumstances. Honors. Students who wish to pursue Honors should apply by April 15 of the junior year. Admission will be granted on the basis of the grade-point average in the major, faculty recommendations, and a written proposal. The project will be for six hours during the two semesters of the senior year, normally under the supervision of two faculty members from different departments. Interested majors should consult the director. The following courses, either cross-referenced, cross-listed or wholly in Comparative Literature, are centered on comparative approaches and therefore are of special interest to majors. For cross-listed courses, students may enroll using either the Comparative Literature number or the cross-listed number in the department of origin. 200. Introduction to Comparative Literature 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. An investigation of the nature and scope of comparative literary studies, focusing on the theoretical assumptions of major approaches to the discipline. Topics to be covered include translation, the role of theory and criticism, the opportunities and limitations of influence studies, methods of historicizing across boundaries of time, space, language, and culture, and comparisons between literature and the other arts. Texts from several literary traditions will be analyzed from a variety of perspectives. Prerequisite: An introductory literature course in any language. Note: For Comparative Literature majors this course must be taken by the junior year. Identical to ENGL 275. Mr. Deppman 265. Anglophone Literatures of the Third World 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR Second Semester. Identical to ENGL 265. For description, please see "English" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 30. Ms. Needham 350. Translation Workshop 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. Identical to CRWR 350. For description, please see "Creative Writing" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 16. Mr. Young 381. European Modernism and the World 4 hours 4HU, CD, WR Second Semester. Identical to ENGL 381. For description, please see "English" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 25. Mr. Deppman 501, 502. Honors Project 3 hours 3HU First and Second Semester. Consent of Program Director required. Staff Cross-Referenced Courses The following courses may be of particular interest to Comparative Literature students, depending on the emphasis of their major. The courses listed below are offered in English, unless otherwise noted. Numerous other courses are also appropriate for the major. Please consult the listings of literature courses in the following departments or programs: Classics (courses in Latin and Greek above 301), East Asian Studies (courses in Chinese and Japanese at the 300 and 400 level), French (360 or above), English (200 level or above), German (300 and 400 level), Hispanic Studies (305 or above), Russian (300 and 400 level). Classics (CLAS) 101 Myth and Hero in the Greek Epic 206 Greek and Roman Drama in Translation 218 No Second Troy: Versions of Helen Chinese (CHIN) 106 Topics in Chinese Literature 109 Topics in Chinese Film English (ENGL) 327 Modern Drama: Ibsen to Pirandello 361 Post-Colonial Women's Narratives 392 Selected Directors: Almodovar, Hartley, von Trier French (FREN) 250 A Century of Dreams in French Cinema 350 Special Topic in French Cinema 360 Colloquium: Autobiographie ou le texte indeterminé (conducted in French) 361 Colloquium: Le Voyage dans la literature française (conducted in French) German (GERM) 326 Twentieth-Century German Drama Hispanic Studies (HISP) 313 Colloquium: Latin American Film 320 Reading Borges (conducted in Spanish) 423 The Crisis of 1898 and the Discourse of Decadence (conducted in Spanish) 450 -Picaresque Narratives: the World Vision of Female and Male pícaros (conducted in Spanish) 465 ¡Viva la raza! Constructions of Hispanic Identity (conducted in Spanish) Japanese (JAPN) 116 Traditional Japanese Literature in Translation 118 Modern Japanese Literature in Translation Russian (RUSS) 322 Russian Decadence in Its Western Context