Department of Comparative Literature

The Department of Comparative Literature provides a broad range of courses in European as well as non-European literatures. Courses variously stress significant authors, themes, problems, styles, genres, historical periods, and theoretical perspectives. In cooperation with related departments in the humanities, the departmental offerings reflect current interdisciplinary approaches to literary study: hermeneutics, semiotics, deconstruction, cultural criticism, Marxism, reception aesthetics, feminism, psychoanalysis. 

Faculty Spotlight: Jonathan Monroe

To grasp the achievements of writer Roberto Bolaño, whose work encompasses both Europe and the Americas, one must understand not only poetry and fiction but also literary history and politics, argues Jonathan Monroe, a professor of comparative literature and a member of the graduate fields of comparative literature, English, and Romance studies at Cornell.

In this Chats in the Stacks talk in Olin Library, Monroe discusses his new book, Framing Roberto Bolaño: Poetry, Fiction, Literary History, Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which contributes to an expanded understanding of the entirety of Bolaño’s work and his importance within both hemispheric studies and world literature.