PDF version of this chapterGraduate Degrees
The primary goal of graduate study in comparative literature is to prepare students to engage in original literary research and teaching after acquiring: (1) a broadly based knowledge of literature's formal or generic development extending across linguistic boundaries; (2) an understanding of literature's historical development within a number of specific cultural or ideological contexts; and (3) an appreciation of the principles of literary criticism and theory essential to the sophisticated analysis, interpretation and evaluation of individual works. The core of the discipline of comparative literature is advanced skill in several languages allowing research in several literary traditions.
Graduate students follow individualized programs that combine the study of a major literary tradition in one language with one or more comparative fields. The program has strong faculty resources in the principle literary genres and periods of Western tradition, in selected genres and cultural issues within the East Asian tradition, and in a variety of methodological approaches within contemporary literary criticism and theory. Literature and gender studies is a particularly strong area of interdisciplinary work.
Admission Requirements
The department makes no offers of admission to applicants seeking only the M.A. degree. Requirements for admission to the Ph.D. program in comparative literature include: a B.A. in literature or the equivalent; satisfactory scores in both the verbal and quantitative General Test of the Graduate Record Examinations; satisfactory grades from course work completed at other institutions; a written statement of at least 500 words indicating the applicant's interests in graduate study in comparative literature; a sample of scholarly or critical writing on a literary work or subject; three letters of recommendation from former instructors; and, for international applicants, a satisfactory score on the TOEFL examination. All applicants must be fluent in English before being admitted to the program.Degree Requirements
These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to the Requirements for Graduation section and the USC Graduate School section of this catalogue for general regulations. To be applied toward the degrees, courses must be accepted by the Graduate School.Master of Arts in Comparative Literature
Although the department does not admit candidates for the M.A., it awards the degree either as a terminal degree or as a transitional degree in the course of Ph.D. study. Some differences in the requirements pertain depending on whether the student is a candidate for the terminal M.A. or seeks to continue study for the Ph.D.Course Requirements
Completion of at least eight courses (29-32 units) distributed as follows: (1) three courses in one major literary tradition, which is understood to be a national literature (e.g., Russian or Japanese); several literatures of one language (e.g., Francophone literatures of Europe, Africa and the Americas; peninsular and Latin American literatures in Spanish); or a bilingual tradition like classics (Greek and Latin); (2) at least two courses in a minor field, which is understood to be a second literary tradition, a major literary genre, period, or movement, literary theory, a comparative cultural context for literary study (e.g., East-West literary relations), or an interdisciplinary area (e.g., literature and gender studies); and (3) three additional courses in comparative literature, including COLT 502 and two other COLT courses related to the student's major literary tradition or minor field. No more than one of the required eight courses may be in directed research (COLT 590). COLT 502 must be completed by the end of each student's second semester in the program.Students may transfer up to four units toward the M.A.
Examination
Terminal: A written examination on the student's major literary tradition, normally to be taken at the end of the semester in which course work is completed and after language requirements have been met. For this examination the student will prepare, in consultation with the COLT graduate advisor, an individual reading list based on COLT reading lists.Transitional: The same examination will serve as the Ph.D. Screening Procedure, to be taken at the end of the semester in which eight courses are completed (for students entering with a B.A.) or at the end of the second full semester (for students entering with an M.A.).
Foreign Language Requirement
Terminal: The successful completion of at least two advanced courses (400-level or higher) in the original language of a literary tradition other than the Anglophone.Transitional: The successful completion of at least three advanced courses (400-level or higher) in the original languages of two literary traditions other than the Anglophone. Alternatively, students may combine the successful completion of two such courses in one literary tradition with an examination administered by the Comparative Literature Department demonstrating a linguistic ability and literary knowledge equivalent to an advanced course in the other literary tradition.
Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature
Course Requirements
A minimum of 15 courses or 60 units. The courses are to be distributed as follows: (1) at least six courses in the student's major literary tradition, which is understood to be a national literature (e.g., Russian or Japanese); several literatures of one language (e.g., Francophone literatures of Europe, Africa and the Americas; peninsular and Latin American literatures in Spanish); or a bilingual tradition like Classics (Greek and Latin); (2) at least two courses in a second literary tradition; (3) at least six courses in comparative literature or comparative fields relating to the student's program, including COLT 502. Normally, students will also take an additional course in a third literary tradition, as outlined below under "Foreign Language Requirements." No more than three of the required 15 courses may be in directed research (590 or 790). COLT 502 must be completed by the end of each student's second semester in the program.Foreign Language Requirements
All students must successfully complete their required advanced course work (400-level or higher) in three languages, one of which may be English. This will normally be accomplished by completing all courses in the major and second literary traditions in the original languages, and by successfully completing at least one advanced course in a third literary tradition. In rare circumstances, an examination administered by the Comparative Literature Department demonstrating a linguistic skill and literary knowledge equivalent to an advanced course (400-level or higher) may be substituted for the third language. Where Anglophone literature constitutes a student's major literary tradition, advanced course work in two other literary traditions is required without the option of examination in the third language. In some cases the COLT Graduate Studies Committee may require special preparation in languages essential to the student's program (e.g., Latin or Greek for specialization in the Renaissance).Screening Procedure
To be permitted to work toward the Ph.D. in comparative literature, a student must pass the examination for the transitional master's degree. Students entering the program with an M.A. from another institution must pass this examination at the end of their second semester in the program. The COLT Graduate Studies Subcommittee periodically reviews the progress of all students in the program and may recommend that a student not be allowed to continue if examinations, grades, or other forms of evaluation indicate inadequate performance.Comparative Field Examination
The purpose of the comparative field exam is to demonstrate the breadth of the student's comparative expertise. Thus the principal texts under analysis in the comparative field must not belong to that major literary tradition on which the student was tested in the screening procedure; nor should they be in any way central to the thesis he or she proposes to write.At the time of the screening procedure, the student will designate a three-member comparative field exam committee, normally chaired by that member of the COLT faculty with whom the student intends to write the thesis. This committee is responsible for helping the student prepare for the comparative field exam, as well as for assuring its integrity as a comparative exercise.
The centerpiece of the field exam is a 30-40 page paper with bibliography. Typically, this paper will grow out of work the student has done for one or more graduate seminars. It can be literary and/or theoretical in nature, but must draw principally on work in one or both of the student's secondary languages. The oral portion of the field exam involves discussion of the submitted paper and of the student's evolving research plans.