Comparative literature and cultural studies - Faculty of Arts

Offered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Units under this heading are administered by the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies and taught jointly by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics and the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies. The centre is an interdisciplinary teaching unit with responsibility for teaching and research in three main areas of work:

Comparative literature is the study of literary texts in ways that go beyond particular national or linguistic boundaries. We study literary texts written in other languages - including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish - as well as in English. All texts are studied in English translation, but the people teaching them will normally know the original as well.

Cultural studies is the study of literature in its political and social contexts and in relation to other arts and media, for example the press, film and television. We study the interrelationships between texts and codes, both `artistic' and `popular' verbal and visual. We look at the connections between social institutions like the international media conglomerates, cultural technologies like printing and film and cultural forms such as the novel and the soap opera.

Critical theory is an umbrella term for a whole series of contemporary approaches to literary and cultural criticism, for example hermeneutics, semiotics, post-structuralism, ideology critique, psychoanalysis, and so on. Such theories are central to recent work in literary and cultural studies.

Although the emphasis varies from unit to unit, much of our work deals with all three areas.

Undergraduate students can take a first-year sequence in comparative literature and cultural studies and then go on to do a major or minor sequence in comparative literature and cultural studies, drawing on units taught by the Centre as well as up to two second or third-year specified units from other disciplines in the Faculty of Arts. A first-year sequence in advanced German, French, Italian or Spanish or in English literature can also be taken as the qualifying first-year sequence for a minor or major in comparative literature and cultural studies.

For information on the units required for a major or minor in comparative literature and cultural studies, refer to the `Areas of study' section on the Arts faculty website at http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/current/coursework/study-areas/.

An honours program is also offered.

Relevant courses

Diploma in Arts (Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies)
Bachelor of Arts (and associated double degrees)
Bachelor of Arts (Global)
Bachelor of Letters

Contact details

Inquiries (Clayton): Room S423, fourth floor, South Wing, Menzies building; Telephone +61 3 9905 2281 or +61 3 9905 2223; Email lcl.enquiries@arts.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/schools/lcl/.