Comparative literature investigates literature in ways which go
beyond particular national or linguistic boundaries. Comparative literary
studies are of two main kinds: substantive studies of the literature of two or
more languages or literary cultures; and generalising studies of the literary
process itself, for example literary history or the sociology of literature.
Particular research strengths include: European, Asian and Latin American
literature; romanticism, modernism and postmodernism; literature and
philosophy; and comparative literary theory. Postgraduate students are expected
to read literary texts in the original language. Applications are encouraged
from students with good linguistic abilities.
Cultural studies is the study of cultural texts, spaces and practices in
relation to their various social, historical and ideological contexts. It is a
field that has been at the cutting edge of research and debate in the
humanities over the past 20 years. There are two main variants of cultural
studies at Monash: the study of popular cultural text normally excluded from
the canons of high art and literature (for example popular fiction, popular
cinema and television); and the study of canonical art and literature in
relation to its social, historical and ideological context. Particular research
strengths include postcolonial culture, genre studies, graphic novels, New
Hollywood, Japanese popular culture, science fiction and cyberculture. Cultural
studies at Monash is both comparative and theoretical in approach. It seeks to
problematise the binary oppositions between high and low culture and to make
use of a broad range of theoretical perspectives.
Critical theory is a term which has come to signify a number of
contemporary approaches to textual and cultural criticism. These include:
hermeneutics and reception theory; Marxism, feminism and psychoanalysis;
semiotics, structuralism and post-structuralism; postcolonial, post-modern and
post-humanist theory. Such theories have been central to recent work in
literary, visual and cultural studies, but also to such related fields as
anthropology, performance studies, philosophy and sociology. Critical theory at
Monash has particularly strong research interests in ecophilosophy and
ecofeminism, cultural materialism, deconstruction, feminist critical theory,
hermeneutics and psychoanalysis.
Also see the entries under 'English' and 'Visual culture'. Visit our website at
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/cclcs/postgraduate/
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