What was it that led to the formation of
a constellation known as Comparative Literature at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst?
In the late
1960’s, as the University made a transition from
a small agriculturally oriented land-grant institution
to a
full-fledged research university, members of four departments,
Irving Rothberg (Spanish), Eva Schiffer (German), Paul
Mankin (French), and Alex Page (English) proposed the establishment
of a Program in Comparative Literature which would serve
to bridge the gaps between these then departments, to provide
a neutral, interdisciplinary space for dialogue and scholarship
that would embrace the global without neglecting the local—and
to do what our discipline does best: cultivate a curriculum
in literature and culture, with ties to the arts, that
speaks
to students of many linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Our work
has earned us a reputation as a continual source of energy
and innovation on behalf of
the University. The University
Translation Center, for example, was founded by faculty
in Comparative Literature
and is now thriving under the direction of a faculty member
with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and ties to Comparative
Literature at UMass. Likewise, the Interdepartmental
Program in Film Studies has long been headed
by a faculty member in Comparative Literature.
Comparative
Literature at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst has evolved as a unique social
and academic entity with a curriculum like no other
at the University. Members of our faculty
repeatedly win the University’s Outstanding Advisor
Award; we sponsor B.D.I.C. students;
our faculty and graduate students have conducted distance
learning courses through WGBY public television and
online; one of our faculty founded the Massachusetts
Multicultural Film Festival in 1993, now in its thirteenth
season; we have faculty collaborating with the University
without Walls; and we work with Commonwealth
College (our University Honors Program) as advisors
and teaching faculty.
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