Comparative literature and cultural studies

Offered by the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Telephone: +61 3 9905 2208

Email: gail.ward@arts.monash.edu.au

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. 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. Cultural studies at Monash is both comparative and theoretical in approach. It seeks to identify and examine 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 poststructuralism; postcolonial, postmodern and post-humanist theory. Such theories have been central to recent work in literary and cultural studies, but also to such related fields as anthropology, performance studies, philosophy and sociology.

The Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies runs a regular research seminar program, which has hosted a wide range of scholars from Australia and overseas. Postgraduate candidates are expected to participate in this seminar program.

Visit the centre's website at www.arts.monash.edu.au/cclcs/postgraduate/.

Supervision is available in the centre’s three main areas of work: comparative literature, comparative cultural studies and critical theory. Particular research strengths include comparative European East Asian and Latin American literary studies and culture; romanticism, modernism, postmodernism and the avant-garde; comparative literary theory; contemporary cultural theory; contemporary French and German philosophy; cultural materialism; deconstruction; ecocriticism and ecofeminism; feminist theory, especially feminism and psychoanalysis; genre studies; graphic novels; hermeneutics and psychoanalysis; Japanese popular culture; literature, politics and society especially Baudrillard, Bourdieu, Foucault, Jameson and Williams; New Hollywood; philosophy and aesthetics especially Adorno, Benjamin, Blanchot, Deleuze, Derrida, Gadamer, Kristeva, Levinas and Lyotard; popular fiction and popular culture; postcolonial culture; poststructuralist literary theory and semiotics; science fiction and cyberculture; utopia, dystopia and science fiction.

Relevant course groups

Doctor of Philosophy

Masters degree by research

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