Comparative Literature

is the study of general and comparative literature which includes areas such as genre, form, technique, methodology, and thematics, alongside intertextuality and the role of literary industries – all with a multilingual and intercultural focus.

In Comp Lit we study literature and its relationship to other artistic production, in particular music, visual arts, film, comics, and digital media. Furthermore, we focus on the formal or linguistic migrations of particular literary works, genres, or stylistic features – including their circulation and critical reception – in other linguistic and cultural contexts. We utilise a range of theoretical approaches (eg. Reception/Reader Response Theory, Intertextuality, Post-Colonial Studies, Gender Studies), alongside a consideration of the role played by literary and cultural institutions (eg. publishing houses, newspapers, and new media).

Our Department...

has a successful history of research into the relationship between literary and book studies, reception theory, translation theory, and the study of literature within its social and historical context. Our current teaching and research concentrates on the relationship between literature produced in English and in the Germanic and Romance languages, although we also offer courses in Slavic and non-European languages, alongside the study of literature and its relationship to a range of other artistic forms.