Comparative Literature
Department of Comparative Literature
College of Arts and Sciences
638 Clemens Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260
Phone: 716.645.2066
Fax: 716.645.5979
Web: wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/AandL/col/
Shaun Irlam
Chair
About the Department
The Department of Comparative Literature at UB has now trained several generations of students in decoding and critically analyzing literature and culture, from Plato to “Blade Runner.” The scope of the study is broad. Rather than specializing in periods and nationalities, we ask fundamental questions about what makes culture work, how language and meaning operate, what is the relationship between politics and art, and what are the underlying motives for religion. This is why we teach enduring works of literature (e.g. by Cervantes, Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, Woolf, Borges, Kafka) in the context of major conceptual models which explain how culture establishes meaning and values. Our courses thus establish a meeting ground between philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism, political theory, ethics, and religion. Major thinkers including Plato, Freud, Nietzsche, Foucault, and Derrida, and artists, whether of “high art” or the mass media, are central to our curriculum because they have posed these indispensable questions about the nature of culture, literature, and community.
We have been dedicated to undergraduate education since the opening of the department at UB. Our literary and cultural offerings have traditionally been small and intensive, focusing on individualized education. Because we’re such a small department, our undergraduate courses are seminar classes. This means that students sit around a conference table in 640 Clemens, a nice big room with big windows, and discuss the texts and ideas in detail. The Comparative Literature department offers a small college experience in a huge multiversity.
Of recent years, an increasing number of UB undergraduates have opted either for the Minor in Comparative Literature or the Special Major offered under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences. Many students taking a comparative literature minor find that it provides an indispensable background to almost any major in the College of Arts and Sciences. Because of its rigorous training in analytical and interpretative skills, comparative literature also provides an invaluable preparation for graduate school and for careers in law, medicine, psychology, the media, history, sociology, anthropology, and arts management.
Degrees Offered
Undergraduate: Special Major (through Special Majors Program), Minor
About Our Degrees
The Minor in Comparative Literature consists of two mandatory courses in literary theory (see COL 301 and COL 302), as well as a choice of up to five aulitional courses at lower and upper levels. Specific requirements vary slightly according to affiliation with the College of Arts and Sciences as opposed to other divisions. Certain courses from modern languages, English, and media study can be credited toward this minor.
Acceptance Criteria - Minor
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall.
Degree Requirements
See the Undergraduate Catalog.
About Our Courses
The mandatory courses for the Minor in Comparative Literature, COL 301 History of Literary Theory and COL 302 Contemporary Literary Theory, make splendid elective courses in culture for students in all fields. They afford students a working knowledge of the current models of cultural interpretation (e.g., psychoanalysis, Marxism, feminism, Frankfurt School, post-Colonialism, structuralism, and post-structuralism). These courses will dramatically enhance the power with which students will be able to decode and enjoy, among other things, paintings, films, plays, poems, and performance art. These courses are acceptable for the critical methods component of the English major.
Other comparative literature undergraduate offerings are designed to be in synch with the broader issues, questions, and methods raised in COL 301 and COL 302. From semester to semester, the Department of Comparative Literature offers a wide range of courses in literature, film, popular culture and gender and post-colonial studies. These courses are constantly being updated for their relevance.
Recent elective comparative literature undergraduate offerings have included: “The Culture of Rebellion,” “The Quarrel between Philosophy and Literature,” “Literature and Desire,” “Literature into Cinema,” “The City in Literature,” “Women and Literature,” “Literature and War,” and “Signs and Representation.” These courses all satisfy the General Education Humanities requirement. They also form part of a splendid cultural background, whether taken as part of the comparative literature minor and special major or not.
For course descriptions, please see the Undergraduate Catalog.
About Our Faculty
The faculty of the Department of Comparative Literature have distinguished themselves over recent years through both the quality and the quantity of their book publications. The department's scholars have also achieved national and international esteem for the quality and magnitude of their research. A large number of the department's faculty members have been the recipients of distinguished grants, such as Guggenheim, Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and American Council of Learned Societies fellowships.
The entire faculty regularly participates in major national and international conferences and other significant intellectual events. Since the faculty's professional activities represent an especially lively part of the department, students have the opportunity to study with noted scholars who are strongly committed to research.
- Rodolphe Gasché, Eugenio Donato Professor of Comparative Literature
- Shaun Irlam, Associate Professor and Chair
- David E. Johnson, Assistant Professor
- Ernesto Laclau, Distinguished Visiting Professor (Fall semesters only)
- Henry Sussman, Julian Park Professor of Comparative Literature
- Ewa Plonowska Ziarek, Julian Park Professor of Comparative Literature
- Krzysztof Ziarek, Professor of Comparative Literature
Special Academic Opportunities
The special major in comparative literature is an individualized program of study that students design in conjunction with comparative literature faculty advisors. Participation in this program requires independent studies courses with the comparative literature faculty.
The department offers a regular summer study abroad program in Africa, and, in its emphasis on foreign languages and multicultural study, encourages undergraduates to take advantage of any and all appropriate study abroad opportunities.
Extracurricular Activities
Over the duration of its history, the department has organized a stellar sequence of lectures by outside guests and a series of annual theme-centered academic conferences. Visitors to the Comparative Literature department have included such world-renowned scholars and intellectuals as the late Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida, J. Hillis Miller, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Julia Kristeva, Lucette Finas, Samuel Weber, and Dalia Judovitz. Undergraduates as well as graduate students are encouraged to participate in these events, which constitute a significant intellectual resource on campus.
The department also sustains a “Philosophy Goes to the Movies” film series.
See the UB Student Association.
Complementary Programs and Courses
As suggested above, comparative literature offerings naturally complement any of the majors in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. They enhance pre-legal study and interdisciplinary programs in the humanities and social sciences.
Advising Information
General information regarding the department and its programs will be furnished by Professor Ewa Ziarek, listed above. Depending on their specific interests, students will also be assigned an individual mentor from among the comparative literature faculty.
Career Information
In the context of a rapidly and dramatically changing society, the skills that comparative literature teaches—interpretation, analysis, communication, the deciphering of cultural codes, written expression, and foreign language—give students in this competitive job market a decisive cutting edge. Current economic trends suggest a high value on intellectual and entrepreneurial independence, which the discipline of comparative literature stresses. While the workplace and even the nature of jobs themselves may change, these fundamental skills, and abilities, and international perspectives are sure to retain their value.