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CLCS Graduate Studies Program

The University of Connecticut offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS). CLCS draws on faculty in national languages and literatures in the Department of Modern & Classical Languages and the English Department, the Programs in Medieval Studies, Latin American Studies, African Studies, Women Studies, as well as on Departments in the Social Sciences and the School of Fine Arts.

The CLCS Program is designed to provide students with a knowledge of literature as it interacts with other cultural productions. A highly individualized program, CLCS encourages intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature and culture. Students are prepared in the history and methods of literary and cultural criticism, literary theory, and discourse analysis and the comparative study of literary texts in relation to the other cultural productions. The Program emphasizes the contextualization of literary production and changing relations between the literatures and cultures of Europe, North and South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

Ideally situated within driving distance of Boston and New York, the Program affords students the possibility of exploring archives and attending lectures, exhibits, films, theater performances and other cultural events at a variety of campuses in the New England area.

At UConn, the program draws on all departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and works in conjunction with European Studies, Women Studies, Medieval Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Contemporary African Studies, the Center for Asian Studies and the School of Fine Arts, Film Studies, Mideast Studies and Judaic Studies.

Comparative Studies in Literature
This plan is designed to educate students in three major areas of literature. Individualized programs of study are organized by the student's Advisory Committee. They include period, genre and thematic studies within the context of two national literatures for the M.A. and three for the Ph.D. Requirements: for the M.A., 18 credits divided evenly between two national literatures and six credits in Comparative Literature; for the Ph.D., 15 credits in three national literatures and 18 credits in Comparative Literature beyond the M.A.

The option also exists for students to pursue studies in the areas of film history, documentary film, film theory, and world cinema but an INDIVIDUALIZED PLAN OF STUDY and research in both the M.A. and Ph.D. programs must be designed for each student.

Literary Theory & Criticism
The purpose of the literary theory and criticism component of Comparative Literature is to prepare the student to teach critical theory and applied criticism and to carry on a program of research according to orientations such as Semiotics, Psychoanalysis, Marxism, Deconstruction, Gender and Postcolonial Studies. The theory and criticism plan requires that M.A. students take 12 credits in literary theory or the history of criticism from courses offered either in Comparative Literature or in any of the national literatures and 12 credits in any one national literature. For the Ph.D., students are required to take, beyond the M.A., 12 credits in theory or the history of criticism, 9 credits in a principal national literature or field of literary study (e.g., Myth, Folklore, Popular Literature and Culture) and 3 credits in a secondary literature or field of study. The M.A. requires a reading knowledge of one national language besides fluency in written and spoken English. For the Ph.D. two languages, besides English, are required, to selected among the following: French, German, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Chinese, Hebrew, and Arabic.