Comparative Literature

Study the similarities and differences between literature written in different places and at different times in the heart of London. The comparative literature degree module choices embrace nine languages, five continents and span over 2,500 years.

• The course draws on the teaching and research expertise of some of the highest ranked literature departments in the UK.
• Broad and challenging degree programme – students have the opportunity to choose from a wide variety courses across a number of departments.
• Central location offers students the opportunity to benefit from London’s unique literary and cultural resources.
• Student body drawn from many different countries.

Comparative Literature is the study of the similarities and differences between literature written in different places and at different times. In Comparative Literature we do not divide literature up according to where it was written or what language it was written in, as you would if you were studying English or French. Instead we divide literature in other ways, such as by its genre or the period in which it was written.

The study of Comparative Literature at King's embraces nine languages and five continents, and spans over 2,500 years. By contrast with many similar programmes, Comparative Literature at King's does not just mean comparative modern literature: the programme reaches back to the roots of the western and near-eastern literary traditions in classical antiquity and the Bible. Other strengths include: medieval literature, the modern novel,  the literatures of North America, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin America, and French- and Portuguese-speaking Africa. A wide range of language modules is available.

Students in year three have the opportunity to study in the United States for one semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


Currently, students study the following core modules. If there are options available the current choices are also shown. King's reviews its optional modules on a regular basis, in order to continue to offer innovative and exciting programmes and this list is therefore subject to change. Please check here for updates, or contact the Department for further advice.

You will take the core modules and a choice of options.

• Introduction to Comparative Literature: Methods 
• Introduction to Comparative Literature: Theories 
• The Writer in the Text 
• Forms of Shorter Narrative

Example of options available:

Comparative Literature:

• Reading Modern Poetry Comparatively: Greek / English
• The Novel in 18th-Century Europe

Centre for Computing in the Humanities:

• Introduction to Digital Humanities

Classics:

• Greek Ethics
• Entertainment Cultures in Greece and Rome

English:

• Writing London
• Reading Poetry
• Literature of the Renaissance
• Introducing Literary Theories

Film Studies:

• Introduction to Film Studies: Forms
• Introduction to Film Studies: Contexts

French:

• Subjects and Selves: an Introduction to French Thought
• Text and Performance: an Introduction to French and Francophone Theatre and Film 

German:

• Medieval Germany: Language, Literature and Society
• German Literature from Luther to Goethe
• German Literature: 19th and 20th Centuries 

Spanish:

• Medieval Spain: from Frontier to Empire
• Introduction to Modern Spanish Culture

You will take the core modules and a choice of options.

• The Ancient & Early Medieval Book 
• The Medieval Book 
• Literature of Empire 
• Post-Colonial Literature & Theory

Example of options available:

Comparative Literature:

• Travel Writing
• The Classical Tradition in English Poetry
• Surrealism

American Studies:

• Nineteenth-century American Literature 
• Photography USA
• American Postwar Fiction

Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies:

• Cavafy, Seferis, Ritsos 
• The Novels of Nikos Kazantzakis

Centre for Computing in the Humanities:

• Texts in the Digital Humanities 

Classics:

• Roman Drama
• Performance Literature
• Ovid through the Ages 

English:

• Subjects of Desire in Medieval Literature 
• Jacobean Theatre 
• Modernist Fiction
• Literature & Psychoanalysis 
• Modern Theatre 
• Australian Literature & Film 

French:

• Women & Love in the Renaissance 
• Literature & Enlightenment in the French 18th Century 
• Writing & Politics 
• Twentieth-century Womens Writing 
• Introduction to Francophone African Literatures 

German:

• Heinrich Heine 
• Modernism & the Avant-Garde 
• Economic Thought & Literature 

Portuguese & Brazilian Studies:

• Portuguese Symbolism & Realism

Spanish:

• After Franco: Films & Texts of the Transition 
• Perceptions of Modernity: Spanish America 1800-1920 
• Culture & Identity in Spanish America
• Goya & the Dream of Reason

You will take the Dissertation core module and a choice of options.

Dissertation

Example of options available:

Comparative Literature:

• The Classical Tradition in English Poetry
• Surrealism

American Studies:

• Nineteenth-century American Literature 
• Visual Culture: an Introduction
• American Postwar Fiction

Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies:

• Literature and Nation: Greece and Europe since 1922
• Cavafy, Seferis, Ritsos 
• The Novels of Nikos Kazantzakis 

Centre for Computing in the Humanities:

• Texts in the Digital Humanities 

Classics:

• Roman Drama
• Performance Literature
• Ovid through the Ages 

English:

• Jacobean Shakespeare
• Postcolonial Perspectives
• Medieval Romance 
• Experimental Theatre
• Jane Austen in Context 

French:

• French Feminist Writing 
• Contemporary Algerian Literature
• Flaubert
• Shadows of Enlightenment 
• Introduction to Francophone African Literatures 
• German:
• Heinrich von Kleist
• The Third Reich in the Postwar German Novel

Spanish:

• Stereotypes in Modern Spanish Cinema 
• Don Quijote: Text and Screen
• Latin American Visual Arts