Mar 29, 2024  
Course Catalog 2005-2006 
    
Course Catalog 2005-2006 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Comparative Literature


Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: College of Arts and Sciences

Major


A minimum of 30 credit hours (33 for Honors) to be distributed as follows:

Comparative Literature 200, three hours.

  1. At least one course at the 400 level in a foreign literature taught in the original language (300 in Greek, Latin, Chinese, or Japanese), three hours.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.)
  4. 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:

  1. Comparative Literature 200, three hours.
  2. At least one course at the 400 level in foreign literature taught in the original language (300 in Greek, Latin, Chinese, or Japanese), three hours.
  3. Nine or more additional hours of literature, theory, criticism, and cultural studies chosen to include comparative study within or between courses.
  4. 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.

Courses


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 crosslisted courses, students may enroll using either the Comparative Literature number or the crosslisted number in the department of origin.

Cross-Referenced Courses


The following courses are taught in English and may be of interest to comparative literature majors. For a more complete listing of cross-listed courses, as well as courses in other languages, see www.oberlin.edu/complit/clcourses.html.

  • ENGL 267 Representations of Identity in Contemporary American Literature
  • ENGL 357 Modern Drama: Ibsen to Pirandello
  • ENGL 360 Unstable Subjects: The Idea of Ethnic American Experimental Literature
  • ENGL 370 Gender Formation in Asian-American Literature
  • RUSS 333 Northern Naturalism: Chekov, Ibsen, and Strindberg

Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: College of Arts and Sciences