Letter from the Director of Undergraduate Studies
The Comparative Literature Major
April 2025
Dear Comparative Literature Majors,
With the semester well past the halfway mark, I hope you are enjoying your classes, and not too overwhelmed. Preregistration is now underway for all undergrads, seniors have submitted their senior essays (congratulations!!!!), and juniors with full-year senior essays planned are submitting their petitions (if you are an incoming senior, check the deadlines and get in touch with me now). I’ve spoken with many of you, but I still have open office hours slots (sign-up here), and if you can’t make those times or have an urgent question, I respond to emails (samuel.hodgkin@yale.edu) as fast as I can.
In case the switch from 3-digit LITR to 4-digit CPLT course numbers has you confused, just remember:
-You all need to take CPLT 1300 “Fundamentals of Comparison” (formerly LITR 130 How To Read; offered this fall by Prof. Ramachandran)
-You need to take ONE of the following:
-CPLT 1400 “Methods of Comparison” (formerly LITR 140 “How To Compare”; offered in the spring by me)
-CPLT 1430 “Cinema in the World” (formerly LITR 143 “World Cinema,” offered next spring by Prof. Figlerowicz)
-CPLT 3048 “The Practice of Literary Translation” (formerly LITR 348, offered this fall by Prof. Creswell)
-You need a theory course. Suggestions for this fall include:
-CPLT 3000 “Introduction to Theory of Literature,” with Prof. Hever, our revived theory course!!!! After a successful relaunch last fall, the course is working very well for students at all levels.
-CPLT 3006 “Translating Theory,” with Prof. Figlerowicz, a brand new course (not yet on course search), an exciting opportunity for readers of French or Italian to contribute to a published translation of a legendary 1966 journal issue with contributions from Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Gerard Genette, and Tzvetan Todorov. Coming to course search soon!
-You need courses from three of the five historical periods (not all five!), involving literature or film but taught in any humanities department. (Please note that the attribute categories are temporarily muddled, and I am getting it fixed ASAP.) Suggestions for this fall include:
Antiquity: HUMS 1400 “The Hero in the Ancient Near East,” Prof. Slanski
Medieval: NELC 3250 “The Education of Princes: Medieval Advice Literature of Rulership and Counsel,” Prof. Toorawa
Early Modern: CPLT 6640 “Taking Leave: Meditations on Art, Death, and the Afterlife from the Bible to the Twentieth Century,” Profs. Tylus and Gordon
19th Century: EALL 2670 “Japan’s Global Modernisms: 1880-1980,” Prof. van Hensbergen
20th-21st Century: FILM 2607 “East/West European New Waves: Life and Revolution in the 1960s,” Prof. Trumpener; CPLT 9013 “Third Cinema: Arts and Politics in Latin America,” Prof. Fradinger
Our website lists the full requirements for each concentration: Literature and Comparative Cultures, Translation, Film, and Intensive Language. Start filling out your requirements worksheet now, and write to me with any questions.
With best wishes for the rest of the spring semester,
Samuel Hodgkin
Director of Undergraduate Studies
The Comparative Literature Major