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Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

    Comparative Literature

    The program in Comparative Literature at UofSC-Columbia is the tenth ranked public program in the United States according to the latest NRC rankings.  We are also listed among the top ten in the Chronicle of Higher Education for faculty productivity. The other nine are: The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University (listed twice), NYU, University of Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, CUNY, UC Davis. See for yourself: Rankings

    Why Study Comparative Literature?

    Once you have a foundation in comparative literature, we encourage you to begin developing your own degree path and research agenda. This freedom allows you to explore exciting and innovative ways to study language, literature, art and culture in a way that speaks to your own passions and interests. 

    Follow this link to request program information.

    Our Program

    Comparative Literature at South Carolina is an interdisciplinary program in the department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. The Comparative Literature program invites students to examine literature from a multitude of different perspectives. The MA and Ph.D. programs are built around a core curriculum grounded in the history of literary criticism and theory. Students are then encouraged to move out from this core by developing their own degree plans and research agendas which combine in exciting and innovative ways the study of language, literature, art, and culture. Comparative Literature at UofSC offers students the opportunity to fashion their own unique intellectual journeys while fostering the program's core values of linguistic competence, theoretical fluency, and broad literary culture. The Comparative Literature program at the University of South Carolina has a rich history of producing quality graduates who go on to find successful positions teaching at a wide variety of different institutions. We boast a faculty of nationally and internationally known scholars in fields ranging from Latin lyric poetry to film studies and from translation theory to poststructuralist and postcolonial theory, a major research library, and a newly updated and expanded curriculum. A small number of graduate assistantships are awarded each year on a competitive basis.

    Our annual conference

    Our program has been hosting an annual conference since 1999, and it has been a point of pride for us and a venue for vigorous scholarly exchange. Please go here for more information.


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