The Purdue University Comparative Literature Program ranks #1 nationwide.
By virtue of the Program's ability to draw on the curricular strengths of several academic departments, we have the flexibility and resources to accommodate individualized plans of study for qualified students. Each student has the opportunity to do graduate-level work towards MA or PhD degrees in CMPL. Students may draw from original languages in the following literatures: British, Chinese, French (both continental and francophone), German, Classical Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin (classical and medieval), Portuguese (Luso-Brazilian), Russian, Spanish (both Peninsular and Spanish/American), and American literature. In addition, students may work in areas such as Aesthetics, Cultural Studies, Ekphrasis, Film Studies, Folklore, Gender Studies, Literary Theory, Metaphor, Philosophy, Postcolonial Studies, Rhetoric, and Visual Culture.
The program draws mainly from faculty in the School of Languages and Cultures and the English Department at Purdue University but also recognizes the role of other disciplines such as history, philosophy, psychology, the visual and performing arts, and the social sciences in developing theoretical approaches to literature. Comparative Literature at Purdue U takes as its special mandate the teaching and comparing of world literatures not only as social documents but also as works of art whose full appreciation depends on the study of several languages, an understanding of diversity and globalization, and an appreciation of various media.