Undergraduate

Undergraduate Program

Students of comparative literature study literary questions that cross linguistic, political, cultural and historical boundaries.

The scholarly expertise of our faculty ranges from the ancient Greek poems of Sapho to contemporary Japanese performance and Bob Dylan’s songs, from the interaction of diplomacy and literature in the Renaissance to the discursive construction of unnameable sexualities, from seventeenth-century Chinese theater to modern and postmodern literature in languages such as Korean, Yiddish, Hindi, French, Russian, Spanish, and English. Beneath the apparent chaos, what brings us together is our commitment to a broad approach to literary studies and the pleasure we take in working with students to develop their own way into this intellectual adventure.

As a student of Comparative Literature, you will:

study literature from at least two different cultural traditions in their original languages.
consider literature not only from differing cultural traditions, but from varied historical periods as well.
work to understand the concept of comparison when applied to a specific group of authors or texts from different literatures.
think theoretically about the idea of literature itself, considering how it is studied, how it is similar or different from other domains, and/or how to challenge Western theory from non-Western approaches to literature.

Why study comparative literature at UC Berkeley?

The nature of comparative literature encourages study across campus departments, and as a result, our students’ program of study allows for a great deal of freedom; this includes coursework across up to five different departments - including Native American Studies, Philosophy, Rhetoric, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and many more - and the opportunity to develop invaluable skills applicable to postgraduate study and/or myriad career paths.

What skills do undergraduate students acquire?

work towards multilingualism
work to understand cultural nuance and are culturally responsive
hone perspective-taking and flexible thinking skills
develop sophisticated analytical tools
finely tune their persuasive writing skills

What can students expect after graduation?

After graduation students have a solid foundation in the humanities and the flexibility to pursue other fields of interests.

The Comparative Literature major and minor offers insights across languages, cultures, and historical periods, and also explores the relationship between literature and culture; in addition, students are exposed to the wide variety of literary forms (such as poetry and the novel).

Using these tools, students are then well prepared for a variety of fields in which to work, including writing, editing, publishing, education, international relations, translation, and the various professional schools such as law, medicine, and business. Comp Lit students, having done intensive work in a variety of languages, are also well prepared to be world citizens.

We also have a cluster of Comparative Literature majors every year who simultaneously pursue a major in STEM fields and who report their literary work as an invaluable complement to their science studies; some of these students go into medical and public health professions. A Comparative Literature major is also excellent preparation for an academic career, and our graduates teach English, Latin, and modern languages at the high school and college level.

Comparative Literature majors who go on to graduate study and research are teaching in Departments of English, Classics, Modern Languages, Near Eastern Studies, East Asian Studies, and Comparative Literature at various colleges and universities across the United States.

Here's what our students say

"I was thinking of majoring in English because I love literature, but I figured, "Hey, why study literature in only English when I can study it in multiple languages?" I like learning about languages, and I enjoy the diversity of material in Comp Lit classes."

"I thoroughly enjoy literature, but always regretted the fact that I had never read authors that were people of color, or in a language other than English. After reading Cien años de soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I realized that I love reading in Spanish, my second native language. When I discovered that Comparative Literature was a major, I realized that it would allow me to study a beautiful, diverse array of texts that would inform me more of the world at large, and not only in a eurocentric manner. That's why I majored in Comp Lit! "