As all of you know, the choice to study comparative literature is not an obvious one. We have all struggled to explain our choices to friends and parents whose inevitable question seems to be, "Just what is comparative literature anyway?" Each of us over time has worked out an individual answer to that question. As a Department of Comparative Literature we have struggled with the same problem. Over the years we have evolved from a small program born like the goddess Athena from a splitting headache in the English department to one of the largest independent departments anywhere. Our answer to what the field is about has evolved with us. The founding idea of the program was comparison between literature and the other arts. From that starting point we grew into a department focused on those literary movements that gripped the European continent from Antiquity to the modern period. In the late eighties we began to expand our horizons and embrace a wider world. We still teach courses in the literatures of Europe, but we now offer courses in the literatures and languages of East Asia, India and Africa.

We live in what proudly labels itself a global environment, and for comparatists that is more than an empty phrase. In the courses that we offer and the texts that we teach, we embrace globalism not as an abstraction to be feared, but as a reality to be recognized and enjoyed. Our students tell us again and again that this focus on the world at large is what drew them to comparative literature. What they believe that they have achieved after studying with us is some mastery of the state of the world as it exists right now.

Though we have taught, and continue to teach, literature in translation, our faculty commit themselves to teach in translation only what we can read and study in the original language. This commitment has made our inclusion of language instruction a natural compliment to our curriculum. As we expanded our language offerings, we have worked to remain a department united in the teaching of literature and culture. We have worked especially hard to avoid creating a two-tier system where language and literature teachers were unequal in rank and rewards. We are now a faculty of nineteen. We offer majors and minors in Comparative Literature, Japanese and Chinese. We also offer minors in Korean and African Languages.

As an alumnus who shares our perspective on the world and who knows from personal experience the value of our curriculum, we welcome you to our website. We invite you to explore the range of courses we offer and to learn about the quality of research and instruction that our faculty provides. As it has grown over the years, the Department has added many new faculty members, but we have also been lucky enough to retain outstanding professors whose contributions have defined us.

We invite you to support the work of the Department by making a financial contribution to our Arches Fund. Your gift will enable us to offer our students an even wider range of educational experiences. Contributions support invited lecturers and provide refreshment as faculty, students and invited guests talk together afterwards. Larger gifts support scholarships for students to participate in study abroad programs in China , Taiwan , Japan and Tanzania.