The Interdisciplinary Concentrations
in Comparative Literature
Students who choose to complete the breadth requirements
of TCNJ’s Liberal Learning
program with an
interdisciplinary concentration may choose a concentration in Comparative
Literature.
Like the minor in Comparative Literature, an interdisciplinary concentration in Comparative Literature offers students a unique opportunity to study literary texts and traditions across cultural and linguistic boundaries, as well as within the larger context of related disciplines such as art, music, history, film, sociology, political science, linguistics, and philosophy. Such study enables and encourages social critique, focusing the student’s gaze beyond a single national perspective and a single language. In line with the goals of the Liberal Learning program, interdisciplinary concentrations in Comparative Literature teach students to “develop imaginative and conceptual skills needed to compare and evaluate alternative worldviews,” “acquire an informed and critical understanding of change in societies,” and “analyze how forms of expression are used to reflect, exalt, or challenge the values of a culture.”
The Interdisciplinary Concentrations
in Comparative Literature do not include courses that
satisfy the Natural Science and Quantitative Reasoning
requirements of the Liberal Learning program. As a
result, students who complete an Interdisciplinary
Concentration in Comparative Literature will need to take two
additional
courses – one in a lab science and one in
quantitative reasoning – in order to satisfy all the
Liberal Learning breadth requirements.
Requirements for the Concentrations
There are currently only two Interdisciplinary Concentrations in Comparative Literature available to students (European Literary Studies and Classical & Early Modern British Literary Studies), but several other concentrations are in the works (including 20th-Century U.S. & Latin American Literary Studies). Students may also construct their own individualized concentration in consultation with an advisor in the Comparative Literature program.
Classical & Early Modern British Literary Studies
- one course from the
following:
GRE 201/Intermediate Greek
LAT 201/Intermediate Latin
or equivalent
- one course from the following
HIS 301/Classical Greek Civilization
HIS 302/Hellenistic World
HIS 303/History of the Roman Republic
HIS 304/History of the Roman Empire
HIS 305/Christianity from Jesus to Charlemagne
HIS 308/Late Antiquity
HIS 311/Rome and the Barbarians in the Early Middle Ages
- one course from the following:
HIS 317/Europe in the Early Modern Period
HIS 318/Early Modern European Expansion
- one course from the following:
CLS 250/Introduction to Greek Mythology
CLS 325/Sex and Gender in Greco-Roman Antiquity
CMP 230 or LIT 230/Classical Traditions
LIT 341/Ancient Greek Drama
GRE 310/Greek Tragedy
GRE 350/Homer’s Odyssey
GRE 370/Special Topics in Classical Greek
LAT 310/The Age of Augustus
LAT 315/Vergil and the Impact of Empire
LAT 370/Special Topics in Latin
- two courses in Early Modern British literature from the following:
LIT 251/British Literature to the Restoration
LIT 321/Shakespeare: Sources & Contexts
LIT 357/Early Modern British Literature
LIT 358/British Literature Reformed, 1550-1700
LIT 421/Shakespeare: Comedies & Histories
LIT 422/Shakespeare: Tragedies & Romances
European Literary Studies
- one course from the following:
FRE 240/Introduction to Francophone Literature
ITL 240/Introduction to Literature in Italian
SPA 241/Introduction to Literature in Spanish
or the equivalent in another European language
-
two
courses in European history or politics from the following:
HIS 300/Topics in Ancient History or Medieval European History
HIS 307/Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Premodern World
HIS 311/Rome and the Barbarians in the Early Middle Ages
HIS 312/Medieval Culture and Society
HIS 313/Medieval Christianity
HIS 314/Medieval Women
HIS 316/Topics in Early Modern or Modern European History
HIS 317/Europe in the Early Modern Period
HIS 318/Early Modern European Expansion
HIS 320/Nineteenth Century Europe
HIS 321/Twentieth Century Europe
HIS 322/Europe’s Imperial Era
HIS 327/European Social History Since 1789
POL 350/Politics in Europe
- two courses with different course
prefixes from among the following:
CMP 230 or LIT 230/Classical Traditions
CMP 343 or LIT 343/Late Medieval Writers
CMP 346 or LIT 346/Romanticism
FRE 340/Contemporary French Literature
HON 340/Italian Culture and Literature of the 20th Century
HON 341/Italian Civilization Through Literature
HON 347/Paris Before the Great War
ITL 350/Twentieth Century Italian Literature
LIT 251/British Literature to the Restoration
LIT 252/British Literature since 1700
LIT 347/Modern European Drama
LIT 352/British Drama
LIT 354/Middle English Literature
LIT 357/Early Modern British Literature
LIT 358/British Literature Reformed, 1550-1700
LIT 359/The Eighteenth-Century British Novel
LIT 360/British Literature, 1700-1820
LIT 361/British Romantism
LIT 362/The Victorian Era
LIT 363/The Nineteenth-Century British Novel
LIT 366/The Twentieth-Century British Novel
LIT 421/Shakespeare: Comedies & Histories
LIT 422/Shakespeare: Tragedies & Romances
SPA 311/Survey of Spanish Peninsular Literature
SPA 323/20th-Century Spanish Theater
SPA 353/Contemporary Literature of Spain
SPA 355/Romanticism in Spain
- one additional course from list 3 above, or an approved First Seminar, or another approved course
Additional Information
For more information, contact Prof. Harriet Hustis, Dept. of English, Coordinator of Comparative Literature (hustis@tcnj.edu).
Resources