GERMAN IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Designed to recognize the importance of comparative and interdisciplinary training for scholars of German culture, the MA/ PhD in Comparative Literature with a specialization in German Literary Studies (CLG) reflects the intellectual diversity of UCSB’s German faculty, who work in media history, German philosophy, trauma studies, psychoanalysis, science and literature, Holocaust studies, contemporary art, or visual culture.

The CLG’s flexible structure enables students to link their study of German culture with other national literary traditions and related disciplines. Guided by a graduate advisor from the German faculty, students devote two of the three fields required for the Comparative Literature PhD to interdisciplinary and transnational German literary studies. The third field is devoted to a second national literature or to a comparative topic with a complementary focus. This allows CLG students to situate their study of the German literary tradition within a broader intellectual and cultural context, thereby optimally qualifying them for a professional world in which interdisciplinary and transnational training is essential.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS FOR GERMAN IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

For a list of the overall requirements for the doctoral degree in Comparative Literature, please refer to the section on Graduate Degree Requirements.

Students in the German in Comparative Literature program devote two of their doctoral fields to German transnational studies; the third field is devoted to a second national literature or to a comparative topic with a complementary focus. The selection of fields must be approved by the graduate advisor in consultation with a GSS faculty member.

For students entering the program with an MA in German, coursework should include at least 24 units of graduate-level courses, to be distributed in consultation with the graduate advisor.

For students entering the program with a BA in German, coursework should include at least 60 units of graduate-level courses, to be distributed in consultation with the graduate advisor. The thesis written at the MA level counts as the first field exam for the PhD.

For more information on UCSB’s German Specialization in Comparative Literature Program, please contact: Professor Eric Prieto, Chair, Comparative Literature Program (eprieto@ucsb.edu) or Professor Sven Spieker, Chair, Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies (spieker@ucsb.edu).

Visit the web site of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies: www.gss.ucsb.edu