Program Requirements

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program. Approved coursework for the major offered in Spring 23 can be found here.

General Guidelines

  1. All courses taken to fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed which are offered on a Pass/No Pass basis only. Other exceptions to this requirement are noted as applicable.  However, language courses that prepare students for the upper division literature courses (such as French 1-4, 102 and Spanish 1-4, 25) may be taken for P/NP.
  2. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student’s major and minor programs.
  3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in upper division courses used to fulfill the major requirements.

For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.

Upper Division Requirements

Course List
Code Title Units
COM LIT 100 (or 100A, B, C, or D) Introduction to Comparative Literature 4
COM LIT 190 Senior Seminar in Comparative Literature 4
Select one period course of the following:  
COM LIT 151 The Ancient Mediterranean World 4
COM LIT 152 The Middle Ages 4
COM LIT 153 The Renaissance 4
COM LIT 154 Eighteenth- and 19th-Century Literature 4
COM LIT 155 The Modern Period 4
COM LIT 156AC Fiction and Culture of the Americas 4
COM LIT 160AC Topics in Literature and Poetry  4
COM LIT 170 Special Topics in Comparative Literature 4

Primary (formerly referred to as “major”) literature: select at least three upper division courses, with readings in the original language.  Depending on the language and the student's preparation in that language, the student may need up to 2 years or more of lower division language courses as prerequisites.

These three courses should cover a range of periods, broadly "early", "middle", and "modern".  For example, if English is the student's primary literature, then an example of courses that cover these periods would be a course on Shakespeare (English 117S), Romantic Period (English 121), and the 20th Century Novel (English 125D).  For English, the periods correspond roughly to 1750 and before (early), 1750-1900 (middle), and 1900-present (modern), although there are variations.  Additionally, the periods will vary depending on the literature.

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Secondary (formerly referred to as “minor”) literature: select at least two upper division courses, with readings in the original language and selected to fit the student’s period of primary interest. Depending on the language and the student's preparation in that language, the student may need up to 2 years or more of lower division language courses as prerequisites.  Unlike the three periods for the primary literature, these two can simply be considered "modern" and "pre-modern."     ~8

The faculty have pre-approved the primary and secondary literature courses, and a comprehensive list of such courses being offered in the upcoming semester (with periods indicated) are sent to students in the major via the student listserve; consult with the major advisor for more details.