CPLIT-BA - Comparative Literature (BA)
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Program Overview
The undergraduate program in Comparative Literature aims to develop students’ verbal and written communication skills, their ability to read analytically and critically, and their global knowledge of literary cultures and the specific properties of literary texts. The program allows students to study imaginative literature with several methods and a consciousness of methodology.
A Comparative Literature major prepares a student as a reader and interpreter of literature through the sophisticated examination of texts and by developing a critical vocabulary with which to discuss them. Along with providing core courses that introduce students to significant literary phenomena in a comparative frame, the program of study accommodates the interests of students in areas such as specific regions, historical periods, and interdisciplinary connections between literature and other fields such as philosophy, music, the visual arts, gender, and queer theory, and race and ethnicity. Attention to verbal expression and interpretive argument serves students who will proceed into careers requiring strong language and communication skills and cross-cultural knowledge of the world.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
This gateway to the major is usually taken by the end of sophomore year. This course fulfills the Writing in the Major requirement.
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All courses applied to the major must be taken for a letter grade, and a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or better must be achieved in each core course.
Majors must complete at least 40 units of electives.
15 of the 40 units must be COMPLIT courses (excluding COMPLIT 194). The remaining courses should form a coherent intellectual focus requiring approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS). They may be drawn from Comparative Literature offerings, other literature departments, or other fields of interdisciplinary relevance.
Language classes taken for a letter grade (excluding conversational courses) and up to ten units of SLE or COLLEGE courses taught at least partially by a Comparative Literature Department faculty member may be counted towards the elective requirement.
Electives are subject to Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) consultation and approval.
Students whose major concentration involves languages other than their native language(s) are encouraged to receive the Foreign Language Proficiency Notation. The Stanford Language Center administers the Foreign Language Proficiency Notation, which involves an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Writing Proficiency Test, and results in a notation on the student’s official Stanford transcript. Successful completion of the OPI is required to proceed with the WPT.
Students are recommended to take the OPI in or before the Winter of their senior year.
This gateway to the major is usually taken by the end of sophomore year.
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This senior seminar is designed as a culmination to the course of study while providing reflection on the nature of the discipline. Topics vary.
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Students should discuss their choice of capstone seminar with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Faculty Advisor for Philosophy.
Students majoring in any DLCL department (i.e., Comparative Literature, French and Italian, German Studies, Iberian and Latin American Cultures, and Slavic Languages and Literatures) who have an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.3 or above and who maintain a 3.5 (GPA) in their major courses, are eligible to participate in the DLCL’s honors program.
See the Honors webpage for more information.
Program Requirements
To earn honors, students must complete a minimum of 9 units (3 units per quarter), submit a thesis, and present at the Honors Colloquium at the end of their senior year.
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This option is only available if accepted into the Honors program.
The student will write a 5,000-word paper on a topic of their choosing, serving as the culmination of their work in the field.
To write the paper, students must enroll in a 3-unit, letter-grade independent study with a faculty member (or affiliate) in the Philosophy and Literature Focal Group. The paper must involve philosophy and literature, and the faculty member must approve the topic by the add/drop deadline.
Students majoring in any DLCL department (i.e., Comparative Literature, French and Italian, German Studies, Iberian and Latin American Cultures, and Slavic Languages and Literatures) who have an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.3 or above and who maintain a 3.5 (GPA) in their major courses, are eligible to participate in the DLCL’s honors program.
See the Honors webpage for more information.
Program Requirements
To earn honors, students must complete a minimum of 9 units (3 units per quarter), submit a thesis, and present at the Honors Colloquium at the end of their senior year.
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The Comparative Literature and Philosophy subplan requires 66 units. Students interested in this option should review the Philosophy and Literature website.
Substitutions and transfer credits are generally not permitted for the PHIL 170 series class or the PHIL 180 series class and are never permitted for PHIL 80, COMPLIT 181, or the capstone seminar.
Units devoted to acquiring language proficiency are not counted toward the Comparative Literature and Philosophy subplan 66-unit requirement.
This course should be taken as early as possible in the student's career, normally in the sophomore year.
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Substitutions and transfer credits are generally not permitted for the PHIL 170 series class.
Substitutions and transfer credits are generally not permitted for the PHIL 180 series classes.
Complete at least 2 courses from the PHIL100-199 course sets.
Up to five units of SLE may be counted in place of one of these two courses.
Two upper-division courses relevant to the study of philosophy and literature as identified by the committee in charge of the program. A list of approved courses may be found on the Philosophy and Literature website.
One course, typically in translation, in a literature distant from that of the student’s concentration and offering an outside perspective on that literary tradition.
The remaining two courses must be instructed by the Comparative Literature faculty and approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Up to five units of SLE may be counted instead of one of these two courses.
This is a requirement in addition to the capstone option for students who declare this subplan.
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