Bachelors in Comparative Literature

Literature captures snapshots of different people, culture and history. In USC Dornsife s Comparative Literature department, the full spectrum of the world s literature is being analyzed and compared from mythology, drama and biographies, to poetry, novels and films. The programs developed in Comparative Literature have a unique cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to study, and our undergraduate program is more broadly conceived than at many other universities. While we offer traditional Comparative Literature courses that cross the boundaries of national literatures and study literary periods, movements, and genres, our courses also allow students to explore literature's social and political contexts and to discover its relation to other arts like film, painting, and music. And a strong non-Western component in the undergraduate program encourages our students to learn more about Asian literary traditions and cultures. Students study Comparative Literature through individualized programs, where topics vary from modernist literature to hip-hop culture. The Comparative Literature major allows students to learn a language in depth, as well as study the literature, art, film and music produced in associated cultures. As a result, Comparative Literature makes an ideal double major with nonliterary fields such as Cinema, History and Philosophy and even with fields outside the humanities like Journalism, International Relations, Business, and pre-medical or pre-law programs. Comparative Literature majors follow one of two tracks: the Literature/Media/Critical Thought track or the Foreign Language track. The requirements for both tracks of the major accommodate very well semesters of study abroad.