In existence since 1937, the Department of Comparative Literature is one of the oldest and best established centers for the study of comparative literature in the country. The interests of our faculty and students encompass the most innovative areas of study in the humanities today. The expertise of our faculty crosses and interlocks, creating not one but many overlapping patterns that collectively constitute a distinctive identity for the department, both at Michigan and nationally. Our faculty are both specialists and explorers of problems; our classes, too, tend to focus on broad, transhistorical issues such as reading, translation, and value rather than on questions bound by chronology, language, culture, or method. Comparative Literature has also become a magnet for innovative teaching, a place where experiments in pedagogy and learning beyond recognized disciplinary walls are encouraged.

Students in Comparative Literature may also enhance their degrees by adding certificates of study offered by Film/Video, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS), and Women's Studies.

6 Strengths of the Comparative Literature department include:

Classical Cultural Studies
Is a particular strength in the study of the classical world in the broad context of modern critical theory and cultural study.

Critical Translation Studies
An interest in translation studies that embraces both the practice of transferring meaning from one language to another and the role of translation as a critical operator in the large-scale processes of globalization and transculturation.

Global and Ethnic Studies
Is a zone of interest encompassing postcolonial, ethnic, and global studies constituted by the critical interaction of these areas.

History of the Disciplines
This is a focus on the shaping over time of disciplinary knowledge combined with a determined effort to connect other disciplines to the resources of literary knowledge.

Literature and Other Arts
Is an integration of other art forms into the study of literature, including architecture, film, music, painting, and performance.

Poetics
The Faculty and graduate students at Michigan have a deep and abiding concern for poetry: its writing, study and theories.