Overview
The Comparative Literature major is a unique and flexible program that allows students to work in more than one language and to explore critical and theoretical thinking across disciplinary areas. Majors may choose to study languages and literatures from Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia, combining courses taught in the department with courses in literature and culture across the College. The field of Comparative Literature attempts to make sense of the multi-dimensional reality we live in, without limiting itself to one area (be it “the West”), to one language (be it “global English”), to one genre (be it “literature”), or to one moment (be it “the contemporary”). Comp Lit, as a field, is a border-crosser: transgressing the borders of languages and so-called “national literatures”; crossing between disciplines (philosophy, psychoanalysis, film studies, etc.); crossing even between entire professional realms (legal studies, animal studies, medicine, cognitive science, etc.). The Comp Lit minor offers students the chance to do similar work with a lighter set of requirements and more limited foreign language experience.
There are many ways in which to pursue a path in Comparative Literature. Some examples of the kinds of focuses students have chosen include comparative and world literature, comparative media studies, literary theory and translation studies, politics and aesthetics, psychoanalysis and trauma studies, transregional and postcolonial studies, literature, science and the environment, and critical studies of race, gender and sexuality. You may also work with your advisor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) to create your own focus. All students have the opportunity to indulge their love of literature and language while pursuing the latest developments in critical thought with leaders in the field.
Contact Information
For more information on the undergraduate major, please contact our Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Natalie Melas (nam5@cornell.edu).
Major Requirements
In addition to the major requirements outlined below, all students must meet the college graduation requirements.
No prerequisites are required to enter the Comparative Literature major.
All majors in Comparative Literature are expected to have completed ten three- to four- credit courses that count toward the major. Five of these courses must be listed or cross-listed in Comparative Literature.* Five of these courses must be devoted to the study of works in languages other than English that the student will read in the original language. (If a student is unable to find five courses at the advanced level in a non-English language, the student may ask the Director of Undergraduate Studies to approve one or more courses that are taught in translation but in which the student arranges with the professor to read and work with texts in the original language in which the student is trained.) Among the ten courses taken toward the major must be included COML 3001—Methods of Comparison, offered in the fall, and a designated theory course (designated theory courses will be listed on the website each year—please see below for current options).
Students will choose among a number of theory courses designated as fulfilling the requirement every year. For 2026-2027, the designated theory courses are listed below.
Fall 2026
COML 4370 Contemporary Aesthetic Theory and its Discontents
Spring 2027
COML 2591 Intro to Film Theory
COML 3021 Literary Theory on the Edge
Students must earn a minimum grade of C for a course to be counted toward the major.
If a student chooses to work toward Honors in the major, the student must complete thirty-six credits, which include COML 4930—Senior Essay (first semester) and COML 4940—Senior Essay (second semester), one of which will count as one of the required five Comparative Literature courses. The student usually chooses an Honors advisor by the end of junior year and works with this professor throughout the course of the senior year to complete the approximately fifty-page thesis. Please see below for details about the Honors Program.
Because of the flexibility and interdisciplinary range of this track, students who select it should work closely with their faculty advisor to organize a coherent plan of study and to determine, with the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, which courses satisfy the language requirement of the major.
Students who elect to do a double major with another literature department may count up to three courses from that major toward their requirements in Comparative Literature.
*NOTE: If a student chooses a focus in which relevant courses (such as media courses) are not cross-listed in the Department but appear to fulfill the purposes of the major, the student may ask the DUS for approval to count the course toward the major.
How to apply
Interested students are invited to complete the online major request form:
Planning a Program of Study
The Comparative Literature Major emphasizes individuality and interdisciplinary study; as such, it can be helpful to understand how different students have chosen their courses and program of study. Take a look at some of our student profiles to get an idea of how Comparative Literature can work for you.
Minor Requirements
Students pursuing a minor in Comparative Literature are required to take five courses listed or cross-listed in Comparative Literature,* including one course devoted to the study of works in languages other than English that the student will read in the original. (If a student is unable to find a course that fulfills this requirement, the student may ask the Director of Undergraduate Studies to approve a course that is taught in translation but in which the student arranges with the professor to read and work with texts in the original language in which the student is trained; in this case the professor of the course would write a letter to confirm that the student is working in the original language.) For languages that are not taught at Cornell, students may seek courses outside of Cornell with the approval of the DUS.
*NOTE: If a student chooses a focus in which relevant courses (such as media courses) are not cross-listed in the Department but appear to fulfill the purposes of the minor, the student may ask the DUS for approval to count the course toward the minor.
Study abroad:
The department encourages students to study abroad in pursuit of their cultural and linguistic interests, and the number of courses that may be counted toward the major will be determined in consultation with the faculty advisor and with the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Only one course taken as part of a study-abroad program may be counted toward the minor. The Department offers the opportunity to apply for a Rosenberg Travel Grant to pay for part of travel expenses for this purpose.
How to apply
Students may file a minor form over email with our Director of Undergraduate Studies at any time. By the seventh week of the semester before graduation, students must meet with the Director Undergraduate Studies to certify completion of the minor.
Honors
A student who completes the requirements for the major with a minimum grade point average of B+ is eligible for the degree of bachelor of arts with honors in Comparative Literature. The department bases its decision on the students achieving grades of at least B+ on the senior essay, in course work for the major, and in their overall academic performance at Cornell.
Honors Essay
I. Topic:
The Senior Essay should examine in some detail a literary topic broad enough in scope to warrant the name "Comparative." One of its purposes is to allow the student to synthesize readings and perspectives acquired during the course of an undergraduate education. For this reason a well-chosen topic should extend the student's work already begun in a course or sequence of courses taken before the senior year. It can offer a critical analysis of two or more texts from different national traditions or cultural discourses, or even of a single text that catches and expresses a problematic interplay of different cultural discourses; it can pursue implications of literary theory in its varied guises or it can explore those implications as they intersect with findings drawn from other bodies of knowledge. Finally, the senior thesis can engage the problems and methods of visual studies.
II. Supervision:
A faculty member in the department of Comparative Literature must approve the student's topic and supervise the writing of the essay. In some special cases the Director of Undergraduate Studies may authorize a faculty member in an allied department to supervise the student's progress. Experience suggests that supervision work best when the student has already taken a course from the faculty member and knows his or her expectations and approach. The nature and extent of contact between students and supervisor depend upon mutual agreement between them. From time to time the Director of the Senior Colloquium, will call for a meeting of all seniors writing essays. These meetings will allow students to share ideas about their work and to discuss one another's problems-solving strategies.
III. Format:
The finished essay should be approximately fifty pages in length and it should be drafted and revised in a series of carefully planned stages. The format may vary, but as a rule students should draft portions of the essay in discrete units and rewrite them into a complete whole. In a majority of cases the finished essay will present three chapters or subdivisions with a conclusion and a general introduction.
Timetables may vary, but the following deadlines have proved useful to other seniors in the past:
- 30 September: outline
- 14 October: bibliography
- 18 November: first chapter or subdivision
- 17 February: second chapter or subdivision
- 17 March: third chapter or subdivision
- 3 April: complete essay to advisor for last revisions; each student submits a complete essay to the faculty supervisor with whom he or she has worked.
- 15 April: submit final version of essay - directions TBA
- * A second reader may be recommended by the student or the Department may choose one for the student based on the topic of the senior essay.
- For the first semester of work, a grade of "R" is determined by the faculty supervisor.
- The faculty supervisor and the second reader will determine the final essay grade and, if applicable, appropriate essay honors.