Program in Comparative Literature, School of Arts and Sciences
Website: http://complit.rutgers.edu
Undergraduate Director: Jorge T. Marcone
Graduate Director: Elin Diamond
Core Faculty:
Ousseina Alidou, B.A., Niamey (Africa); M.A., Ph.D., Indiana
African literature and folklore; African and comparative
women's studies
Edyta Bojanowska, B.A., Barnard College; Ph.D., Harvard
Nineteenth-century Russian literature and cultural history;
empire and nationalism studies; post colonial theory; Polish literature
Elin Diamond, B.A., Brandeis; M.A., Ph.D., California
(Davis)
Drama and performance; dramatic theory and critical theory;
feminism and gender studies
Uri Eisenzweig, B.A., Tel Aviv (Israel); M.A., Doctorate, Paris
French literature; literary theory; Western literature of
the 19th and 20th centuries
Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., California
(Berkeley)
Feminist theory; cinema and cultural studies; World War II
and Holocaust; television and contemporary culture; theories of national identity;
French cinema and culture
Michael Levine, B.A., Cornell; M.A., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins
Nineteenth- and 20th- century German literature, literary
theory, and intellectual history; intersections among literary, philosophical,
and psychoanalytic discourses; Holocaust studies
Nelson Maldonado-Torres, B.A., Puerto Rico; Ph.D., Brown
Comparative race and ethnic studies; comparative critical theory; Caribbean philosophy; decolonial thinking
Jorge Marcone, B.A., Pontificia Universidad Católica del
Perú; M.A., Ph.D., Texas
Spanish American literature: writing and environment,
literacy, and orality; ecocriticism, political ecology, and environmental historySusan Martin-Márquez, B.A., M.A., Chicago; Ph.D.,
Pennsylvania
Modern Spanish peninsular cultural studies and
Spanish-language film; cinema studies
Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel, B.A., Puerto Rico; M.A., Ph.D.,
California (Berkeley)
Hispanic Caribbean and Latino literature; literary theory; colonial and postcolonial theory; migration studies; Latin American literature
Nicholas Rennie, B.A., Princeton; Ph.D., Yale
Literature of the Enlightenment and the age of Goethe; modern aesthetics and intellectual history; Frankfurt School; 20th-century German novel
Paul Schalow, B.A., Hampshire College; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard
Japanese literature (Edo period); gender and sexuality in
Japanese literature; Japanese women's writing
Richard Serrano, B.A., Stanford; M.A., Ph.D., California
(Berkeley)
Maghrebi and Sub-Saharan African literatures in French;
modern French poetry; the Qur'an and Arabic poetry; Chinese poetry (especially
Tang and Qing); Korean poetry
Ben Sifuentes-Jáuregui, B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale
Latino/a literature and culture, 20th-century Latin American literature and cultural studies; gender theory and sexuality studies; psychoanalysis
James Swenson, B.A., Brown; M.A., Ph.D., Yale
Eighteenth-century literature and intellectual history; 20th-century criticism and theory
Alessandro Vettori, Dottore in Lettere, Firenze (Italy);
Ph.D., Yale
Medieval poetry and Dante; rewriting of biblical texts in literary texts of the
Italian tradition; the devil in
European culture; autobiography
Janet Walker, B.A., Wisconsin; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard
The novel from its European beginnings to its
transformations by East, South, and Southeast Asian writers; hybrid modernity
in material culture, literature, and the arts; modern Japanese fiction and the
West
Steven Walker, B.A., Wisconsin; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard
Interface of ancient Greek and modern texts; Jungian
interpretation of myth; modernist cryptic intertexts
Emily Van Buskirk, B.A., Princeton; Ph.D., Harvard
Russian and Czech literature, film, and literary theory;
autobiography; in-between genres; everyday life; representations of war and the
Leningrad blockade; the culture of the thaw; gender and sexuality; memory and
history; theories of the self
Affiliate Faculty:
Stephen Bronner, B.A., CUNY (City College); M.A., Ph.D.,
California (Berkeley)
Critical theory; political theory
Abena Busia, B.A., M.A., St. Anne's College (Oxford); Ph.D.,
St. Anthony's College (Oxford)
African women in British and American fiction
Ed Cohen, A.B., Georgetown; Ph.D., Stanford
Sexuality; health and healing; political philosophy; social
theory; cultural history; transformational technologies; popular culture
Drucilla Cornell, B.A., Antioch; J.D., UCLA Law School
Contemporary continental thought; critical theory; grass-roots
political and legal mobilization; jurisprudence; women's literature; feminism;
aesthetics; psychoanalysis; political philosophy
Marianne DeKoven, B.A., Radcliffe College; M.A., Ph.D.,
Stanford
Modernism and postmodernism; 20th-century and contemporary
literature and culture; gender theory and criticism
Pedro Erber, Ph.D., Cornell
Art and politics; Brazilian and Japanese literatures;
contemporary philosophy
Jerry Aline Flieger, B.A., Wisconsin; M.A., Ph.D.,
California (Berkeley)
Twentieth century and contemporary literature and theory;
gender studies; psychoanalytic literary theory
William Galperin, A.B., Chicago; A.M., Ph.D., Brown
Late 18th-century and early 19th-century British
poetry and fiction; literary and cultural theory; film studies
Paola Gambarota, Ph.D., Pavia (Italy); Ph.D., Yale
Modern Italian literature; theories of language and nation;
European pre-war avant-garde; film
Mary Gossy, B.A., Bryn Mawr College; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard
Spanish and Latin-American literature; feminist and critical
theory; lesbian and gay literature
Elizabeth Grosz, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Sydney
Feminist theory and philosophy
Martha Helfer, B.A., Washington (St. Louis); M.A., Wisconsin
(Madison); Ph.D., Stanford
Literature of the age of Goethe; Romantic aesthetic and
philosophical theories; German intellectual history (18th-20th century);
questions of gender and the construction of subjectivity; philosophical
approaches to literature; representations of Jews in German critical discourse
Myra Jehlen, B.A., CUNY (City College); Ph.D., California
(Berkeley)
Transatlantic cultural relations; literature and history
Elizabeth Leake, B.A., Ph.D., California (Berkeley)
Twentieth-century narrative and theater; Fascist Italy; Italian cinema; early Danish cinema
Michael McKeon, B.A., Chicago; M.A., Ph.D., Columbia
Seventeenth- and 18th-century literature; critical
theory; historical criticism
Fatima Naqvi, B.A., Dartmouth College; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard
German; Austrian literature and culture; film studies
Gerald Pirog, B.A., Rutgers; M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale
Slavic languages and literatures; critical theory; poetry
Edward Portnoy, M.A., Columbia; Ph.D., Jewish Theological
Seminary
Stephen Reinert, B.A., Western Washington; M.A., Ph.D., California
(Los Angeles)
Byzantine, Balkan, and Turkic history and culture in the 14th and 15th centuries
Louis Sass, B.A., Harvard; M.A., Ph.D., California
(Berkeley)
Schizophrenia; assessment; philosophy of psychology;
intersection of clinical psychology with philosophy, the arts, and literary
studies
Louisa Schein, B.A., Brown; M.A., Ph.D., California
(Berkeley)
Cultural politics, ethnicity, nationalism and
transnationalism; diaspora, gender and sexuality; representation, media,
postcoloniality, postsocialism; China; Asian America
Jeffrey Shandler, Ph.D., Columbia
Yiddish language, literature and culture; Jews and media;
Holocaust representation; Jews and visual culture; American Jewish vernacular
culture
Weijie Song, Ph.D., Columbia
Modern Chinese literature and film; cultural studies; sinophone and diasporic writings
Camilla Stevens, B.A., Tulane; M.A., New Mexico; Ph.D.,
Kansas
Twentieth-century Spanish American drama, theater, and
performance theory; Caribbean cultural studies; contemporary Dominican theater
and performance
Ching-I Tu, B.A., National Taiwan; Ph.D., Washington
Chinese poetry; literary criticism; Chinese thought
Rebecca L. Walkowitz, A.B., Radcliffe College (Harvard);
M.A., Sussex (UK); Ph.D., Harvard
Twentieth- and 21st-century British, Irish, and
Anglophone literatures; the history and theory of the novel; comparative
modernisms; the new world literature; translation studies and the history of
the book; cosmopolitanism; postcolonial theory; critical theory
Yael Zerubavel, Ph.D., Pennsylvania
Collective memory; history and memory; Zionism and Hebrew
national culture; myths and ritual; Modern Hebrew literature; Jewish immigrant
literature
Comparative literature is an exciting, interdisciplinary program that allows you to study literature as it shapes and is shaped by the world of science, economics, politics, sexuality, and other cultural and historical forces. It is a major that should be attractive to students with a wide ranging interest in literature, theory, and cultural studies, and who also wish to read literature in the original language as well as in translation.
The program draws upon faculty from a wide range of disciplines and offers a great deal of personal, individualized guidance in the construction of your major. There is also a strong group of graduate students with diverse interests and language abilities who guide undergraduates through the mentorship program.
Students who graduate with a major in comparative literature may go on to study literature in graduate school, or, because of their training in research, critical thinking, and writing, are also prepared for law school and other professional schools.