Academic Catalog 2025–2026

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Master of Arts in Comparative Literature

Mission

The mission of the Master of Arts in Comparative Literature is to teach, train, and conduct research in literature and trans-cultural studies, with special attention to Lebanon and the Middle East. The program offers coursework in English, Arabic, Persian and French, in response to the students’ needs and capacities. The aim is to explore the role of culture in a multi-ethnic, globalizing world.

Program Objectives

The purpose of the graduate program in Comparative Literature is to:

  1. Offer students linguistic and cultural training in more than one cultural zone;
  2. Offer students a highly individualized curriculum, through close coopera­tion with other disciplines in the humanities, arts, and social sciences;
  3. Allow students to acquire an exceptional degree of expertise in regional intercultural relations, and a broadened perspective on the variety, and complexity, of the Middle Eastern cultures, combined with advanced train­ing in critical and poststructuralist theories;
  4. Explore a range of literary, and cultural, theories, and demonstrate signifi­cant mastery of one or two;
  5. Achieve broad intercultural competence in genre, period, and theme; and
  6. Receive advanced training in written and oral communication through working with experienced researchers.

Program Outcomes

Graduate students in comparative literature will be able to:

  1. Develop a high level of specialization in methodology, theory, periods, themes and literary genres that constitute the framework within which they can pursue their study and research;
  2. Develop the skills to teach, train, and to conduct research in literature and transcultural studies, with special attention to Lebanon and the Middle East in general;
  3. Acquire an exceptional degree of expertise in regional intercultural rela­tions;
  4. Obtain advanced standing in secondary school teaching, work as literary translators, or work as specialists in literature and culture for the press, for international publishers, in diplomacy, and in international organizations; and
  5. Acquire the knowledge and the skills which qualify them to pursue their education in the field at the Ph.D. level;

Curriculum Requirements

Advanced training is offered in three areas of study:

  1. Literature and other cultural productions. Students will achieve broad intercultural competence in genre, period and theme;
  2. Theoretical frameworks. Students will explore a range of literary and cultural theories and demonstrate significant mastery of at least one;
  3. Research methods and written and oral expression. Students will work with experienced researchers in a variety of media and receive advanced training in written and oral communication.

Program Requirements

A total of 33 credits is required to graduate with an MA in Comparative Literature:

1. Major Core Requirements (18 credits)

2. Nine credits of coursework in one of the following:

  1. A national literature and culture.
  2. A non-literature cognate (graduate-level courses in a field of the student’s interest such as film, history, theatre, philosophy, psychology, media, gender studies, political science, etc.)

3. A Written Preliminary Exam

4. CLT899/ Master’s Thesis (6 cr.)

Sample Study Plan

Year One

Fall (6 credits)

  • CLT801 Methodologies of Comparative Literature (3 cr.)
  • CLT803 Literary Theory I (3 cr.)

Spring (6 credits)

Year Two

Fall (6 credits)

Spring (6 credits)

Year Three

Fall (9 credits)

NOTE: The fall and spring semester courses assigned for all three years will be offered in every respective fall and spring semester and on a yearly basis to accommodate the needs of registered first-, second-, and third-year students.