Literary Studies

Comparative Literature involves the study of literary texts, including graphic novels and comics, film and different forms of translation. Students engage in close reading of contemporary and historical texts in translation from around the world. Our faculty specialize in Africa, the Caribbean, West, East and Central Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Our program is continuously developing and enlarging its scope through creative and innovative research and teaching. See Academics -> Course Descriptions
Comics and Graphic Novels

Professor Chris Couch teaches courses on the graphic novel, animation and comics including, Comic Art in North America. International Graphic Novel and International History of Animation. He served as senior editor at Kitchen Sink Press (Northampton) and editor in chief at CPM Manga (New York). His edited publications have won or were nominated for 17 Eisner and Harvey Awards, Current publications include the edited volume Conversations with Harvey Kurtzman, and a book on Batman artist and editorial cartoonist Jerry Robinson.
Film Concentration

Comparative Literature film courses explore multiple cultures, language and genres, with an emphasis on film theory and analysis. Current courses include Introduction to Film Analysis: Cinematic Time Travel, International Film, Self-Reflective Avant-Garde Film, Cinema and Psyche, Narrative Avant-Garde Film, International Science Fiction, and Dystopian Futures in Film and Fiction. In addition to fulfilling requirements in the Comp Lit major tracks, our film courses fulfill Gen Ed requirements and count towards the Film Studies Certificate.
Translation and Interpreting Studies

The program of Translation and Interpreting Studies within the Comp Lit program offers a grounding in translation and interpreting theory and research; practical expertise in translation and interpreting; a grounding in translation and interpreting technologies; and experience in creating and analyzing written and spoken translations. We offer Certificates in Translation and Interpreting Studies at both the undergraduate and graduate level. For more information about our undergraduate and graduate courses and certificates, see Translation and Interpreting Studies.
Who We Are

Our faculty have expertise in research and teaching in literary studies (colonial, post-colonial, medieval and modern, the global south and eastern and western traditions), film and digital media, and translation and interpreting studies. For more information see Faculty and Faculty Publications.
Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans who Opposed the War

Integrative Learning Center Main Lobby

September 23 to October 11

A New Exhibit at UMass Amherst featuring photographs, underground newspapers, and other documents from this bold and little-known movement.
On October 3, poet, essayist, and translator of Polish poetry, Piotr Florczyk (on right) read from two of his latest works - Los Angeles Sketchbook and and East & West.

Professor María Soledad Barbón publishes new book, Colonial Loyalties. Celebrating the Spanish Monarchy in Eighteenth-Century Lima

November 22, 2019

Colonial Loyalties is an insightful study of how Lima’s residents engaged in civic festivities in the eighteenth century. Scholarship on festive culture in colonial Latin America has largely...

New Book by French & Francophone Studies and Comparative Literature Alum Lara Curtis

November 09, 2019

We are very proud to announce the publication of Writing Resistance and the Question of Gender: Charlotte Delbo, Noor Inayat Khan, and Germaine Tillion. It is Lara Curtis' first book. Lara holds a...

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Major

Why Comparative Literature?

Flexibility in shaping a course of study to fit students' own intellectual goals
Excellent student-faculty ratio
Intellectual diversity and a global curriculum
Lively in-class discussions
Regular advising sessions and a supportive environment
Strong general education in the humanities

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES:

Career opportunities with a degree in Comparative Literature are diverse and may include advertising, branding, copy editing, corporate communications, consulting, education, the film and television industry, graduate school, human resources, interpreter, IT journalism, law librarian, literary agent, marketing, medicine, multi-media production, online market research, proofreader, paralegal, publishing, public health, translator, theater, freelance writing, or speech.

Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans who Opposed the War Integrative Learning Center Main Lobby September 23 to October 11 A New Exhibit at UMass Amherst featuring photographs, underground newspapers, and other documents from this bold and little-known movement.

On October 3, poet, essayist, and translator of Polish poetry, Piotr Florczyk (on right) read from two of his latest works - Los Angeles Sketchbook and and East & West.

Professor María Soledad Barbón publishes new book, Colonial Loyalties. Celebrating the Spanish Monarchy in Eighteenth-Century Lima

New Book by French & Francophone Studies and Comparative Literature Alum Lara Curtis

Why Comparative Literature?

Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans who Opposed the War

Integrative Learning Center Main Lobby

September 23 to October 11

A New Exhibit at UMass Amherst featuring photographs, underground newspapers, and other documents from this bold and little-known movement.