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Guide To Study

Languages

Foreign languages must include at least two foreign modern and one classical language, or, for classics majors, Latin and Greek and one modern language.

A. Principal Foreign Language

Speaking, writing, and reading knowledge required. Students must pass the language exam, (usually a brief translation exercise) offered yearly by the individual foreign language departments, and will be advised of the dates those exams are offered. Should extenuating circumstances prevent students from being present at those exams, alternate arrangements will be made.

Native speakers of the Principal Foreign Language are exempt from the exam in that language.

Classics majors must pass the series of exams in both Latin and Greek offered by the Classics Department, and will receive their instructions from that Department.


B. Second Foreign Language

The Department will rely either on the undergraduate proficiency examinations given by each department of language and literature, or on a student's satisfactory performance in an undergraduate course which is the equivalent of one year of work in the language (the pass/fail option cannot be used in such cases).

Exam Deadlines: The Principal Foreign Language must be certified during the first year, all others by the end of the second (exceptions may be made for classics majors who need additional time to pass all the exams administered by the Classics Department).
 

Course of Study (in Post-Classical Western Literatures)

[For curricula for Majors in Classics, Chinese, and Japanese, see separate schedules. Special arrangements are sometimes possible for majors in Near Eastern and other literatures. Such arrangements are best made at the outset of a student's course of study to ensure feasibility and practicality.]

Students are expected to take a minimum of 12 courses, at least 10 of which must be for credit.

COM 521 is expected of all first year students on their first semester. In addition to COM 521 and at least 2 other courses in comparative literature, students should take 4 or more courses in the department of their principal national literature, and at least 2 in their minor national literature, for credit.  Students whose principal national literature is English-language should take 4 or more graduate courses for credit in this field, as well as 2 or more graduate courses for credit in the minor foreign literature.  They will also be expected to demonstrate proficiency in a second foreign language, which as in the case of their classical language, can be accomplished either by passing the relevant undergraduate proficiency examination or by performing satisfactorily in an undergraduate course equivalent to one year of work in that language.

Students normally elect one of the periods listed below for their concentration:

  1. Middle Ages to Renaissance
  2. Renaissance to Romanticism
  3. Romanticism to the Present

Students whose interests and language preparation lead them to "double-major" in two foreign literatures should take at least 4 courses in each of those literatures, 3 of which must be for credit.

Credit for Graduate Courses Taken Elsewhere

As of September 2009, students who come to Princeton with an M.A. or equivalent course work elsewhere may receive credit for no more than two courses taken elsewhere against the ten required for credit by the Department.  Such decisions, made in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, will normally be reached at the end of the student's first year at Princeton.

Completion of Courses

  1. No Incompletes are allowed for students in their first term of study. Only one Incomplete (to be made up by the end of the summer) will be permitted to First Year Students in their second term. More advanced students must complete fall courses by the end of the Spring recess and spring courses by the end of the summer. Yearly readmission will depend on the complete of coursework. Spring coursework uncompleted by the following spring will result in a permanent Incomplete.  Students can only have one incomplete in order to be considered in good standing. 
  2. Courses cannot be converted from credit to audit after ten weeks. Courses can be converted from audit to credit at any time.

Advising

A committee of three advisers usually work with students for both parts of their General Examination. They are ordinarily chosen during the second year of study (or earlier, for students with advanced standing). Students may either approach individual faculty members directly or ask for suggestions about advising from the DGS. Please notify the DGS in either case once an advising relationship has been agreed to. If, for any reason, a students needs to change or add advisers, the matter should be discussed first with the DGS.

Although continuity in advising is desirable, a change in advisers may occur between the two parts of the General Examination, between exams and the dissertation, and during the dissertation itself.

A student's primary adviser normally comes from the Department of Comparative Literature, but may, under truly exceptional circumstances of unique scholarly expertise, be approved by the DGS from among faculty unaffiliated with Comparative Literature.

The General Examination

Reflecting the Course of Study, the General Examination is offered in two parts (the Principal or Major Literature and Comparative Literature) usually separated by at least one term. Students should declare their intention to sit for each part of the General Examination at the beginning of the term in which they expect to take it: i.e., in September for January examinations, in February for May, and in May for September.

Both examinations must be written in English.

A.General Examination in the Major Literature

The precise date of the exam during the month designated by the candidate will be set in consultation between the student and the Director of Graduate Studies at the latest two weeks before the examination. Students will be notified of the results in writing with one week of the exam.

This first part of the General Examination should be taken during the 3rd or 4th term by the students in the 4-year program, and during the 4th or 5th term by the students in the 5-year program. This schedule may, of course, be accelerated as the student, in consultation with the DGS, sees fit.

Reading List: The list will include at least 50 items (primary and secondary) concentrating in the student's area of interest. It will be drawn up by the student in consultation with his or her advisers, and then reviewed by the DGS. The historical scope of the list is determined by the student's choice of time period in the major language literature. If the student is working equally in two choice literatures, the list may reflect this fact. The list should consist primarily of literary works but interpretive, critical, theoretical, philological and philosophical works are also welcome. Brief works, such as lyric poems or critical essays written by a single author, should be grouped together in numbers relative to their density and interest (e.g., five lyrics by Baudelaire or Lorca; four substantial essays by Barthes or Lukács, might count as 1 item on the list).

Consult department office for samples of reading lists and past examinations.

The list, approved by all concerned, should be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies at the latest 2 weeks before the date of the examination.

Written Examination: The examination is written by at least two faculty members, one or both of whom is a member of the Department of Comparative Literature, and includes the student's adviser. It is a closed book examination lasting eight hours of 3 questions to be answered from a pool of at least 6, usually divided into three groups (of two or more questions) from each of which one question is chosen by the student.Questions are based upon the student's own brief written statements of interest in distinct problems or works. To avoid overlap and repetition of subject matter among answers, the questions are first reviewed and grouped by the DGS.

The exam may be written by hand or on an office computer designated for that purpose. Use of private laptops is not allowed.

Examinations are handed out at 9 a.m. and must be returned to the office by 5 p.m. on the same day.

B.General Examination in Comparative Literature

Because the Comparative Literature Examination completes the two-part General Exams, it must be taken during one of the three periods annually designated by the Graduate School . A combined grade for the Major and Comparative Literature Examination must be submitted to the Graduate School along with notice of completion of the General Examination.

The second part of the General Examination tests the student's competence in the chosen comparative field; it is normally taken within 1 semester of the exam in the Major Literature but may be taken up to 1 year later, and consists of a written, open book exam based on a reading list.

Reading List: Drawn up in like manner to the list for the Major Exam, the reading list for the Comparative Literature Exam should consist of at least 60 items, this time reflecting the student's entire field of comparative study, with particular focus on the probable subject of the dissertation. Questions will be framed based on the student's own brief description of the key issues and areas that, in his or her view, tie works on the list together, usually with a view to future research. Since the list is comparative, it will necessarily include some works from the list for the Major Exam, but should add new works in the major literature as well.

Consult department office for samples of reading lists and past examinations.

The list, approved by all concerned, should be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies at the latest 2 weeks before the date of the examination.

Written Examination: The examination is written by three faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Department of Comparative Literature, and includes the student's adviser. It is an open book examination lasting six hours of questions chosen form a pool divided into related groups by the DGS.

The exam may be written by hand or on an office computer designated for that purpose. Use of private laptops is not allowed.

Examinations are handed out at 9 a.m. and must be returned to the office by 3 p.m. on the same day.

Prospectus of the Dissertation and Oral Defense of Prospectus

An 8 to 15 pg. exposition of the dissertation project written by the student in consultation with the student's advisers, the Prospectus provides the basis for the thesis Prospectus oral examination, which is conducted before the Graduate Committee, the primary adviser, the second reader, and any other professors that wish to attend or the student wants to invite.

The prospectus examination is usually taken during the next Examination Period after the student's completion of the General Exams. (A student may delay the writing of and examination of the prospectus for as long as he or she deems necessary, while remembering that, barring time taken off from enrollment, his or her fellowship clock will keep ticking.)

To arrange for the Prospectus examination, students should consult with advisers and discuss any scheduling difficulties with the DGS. A request for an examination date, and copy of the prospectus, must be submitted to the DGS three weeks prior to the tentative date of the examination. The prospectus must have the signed approval of the advisers.

Regardless of its particular focus, the prospectus should reflect the general requirement that the dissertation involve with its scope at least two national languages and literatures.

Guidelines for Dissertation Prospectus

Students in Comparative Literature should consider the following issues when preparing their dissertation prospectus:

  1. The field to which the dissertation will belong, e.g. literary history, theory, poetics, thematics, genre, interrelationships among the arts, specific issues (feminism, postcolonial critique).
  2. The period or periods under study.
  3. The writers on which the dissertation will focus and the titles of the works to be examined. For the purpose of the prospectus, it is highly advisable to keep the list to three to five authors.
  4. The major theme or themes of your dissertation, e.g. agency and negativity in French and English romantic lyric; eavesdropping in Victorian fiction; skepticism and the su blime in the Renaissance.
  5. In proposing a thesis topic you are also proposing a thesis or argument about a topic, which you should be able to articulate and defend. (Some literary historical and theoretical examples: "modern realism develops from the humble style in classical rhetoric" or "modern realism stems the prosaic nature of irony;" or "The English realist novel of the 18th century is linked to the growth in literacy, the widening of the reading public, and the changes in the status of women and legislation affecting domestic life").
  6. The critical and theoretical background of your thesis. What major critical text influenced you? Against which critical perspectives or theses are you writing? Give names, titles, and dates of publications of critical works you want to follow or respond to.
  7. Provide a few titles of scholarly works related to the field, the period, the writer(s) and the theme(s) you selected. Define your interests relative to these. What is new about your topic or the way in which you plan to treat it?
  8. Sketch the probable development of your theme and thesis in chapters.

Readmission

Reviews for readmission are required of the department by the Graduate School . The readmission of all students to each year for which they are eligible to attend is dependent on course performance, timely completion of language examinations (or coursework), graduate coursework, and the General Examination.

Student Teaching

A. Eligibility and Requirements

Students may teach beginning with their second year. (Normally, first-year students are not eligible for teaching.) All graduate students in the department are required to undertake at least 4 hours of teaching while at Princeton .

B. Teaching Assignments

Teaching assignments in Comparative Literature are arranged by the Department Chair in consultation with the DGS. Students apply for teaching through the Departmental Administrator, who also regularly receives requests for graduate student teachers from surrounding departments. Students also often approach surrounding departments regarding teaching opportunities, but must inform the Departmental Administrator of any tentative assignment they receive in an extra departmental course and have that assignment cleared by the Department Chair and DGS of Comparative Literature before accepting it.

Dissertation

A. Advisers

The dissertation if directed by a primary adviser, and one or two secondary advisers.

B. Scope of Dissertation

The dissertation must be genuinely comparative in the sense of involving at least two national languages and literatures, even if a single author is the subject. Older and newer forms of the same language or one literature and theory are not acceptable substitutes. This must be borne in mind for the prospectus and for the natural narrowing of focus as a dissertation progresses.

The completed dissertation should demonstrate familiarity with the existing scholarship on its topic and represent a distinct contribution to its field.

C. Guideline for Submitting the Dissertation

  1. Submission of final draft: After work on the individual chapters and bibliography has been completed, a legible draft (not a final copy) of the completed dissertation is submitted to the advisers.
  2. Approval of final draft: After agreement by the adviser the primary adviser will communicate approval of the dissertation to the Director of Graduate Studies in time for the candidate to prepare the final manuscript (including final typing).
  3. Readers' Reports: At least two of the dissertation advisers will normally write Readers' Reports to be submitted to the Graduate School at least 2 weeks prior to the Final Oral.
  4. Display of Dissertation: Two final copies of the dissertation (unbound to leave room for minor corrections) must be on display in the department office at least 2 weeks prior to the Final Oral.
  5. Corrections: After the final version of the dissertation has been approved, and readers' reports have been accepted by the Graduate School , candidates may be asked to make only minor corrections or to repeat the Final Oral only.
  6. Binding: Both copies must be bound within 1 week of the oral.

Checklist for Dissertation

  1. Submission for approval: Legible draft, approved by the advisers and additional readers, if there are any, to be submitted for processing to the Director of Graduate Studies, ideally, 6 weeks, but no less than 3 weeks prior to target date for Oral (see 3. below).
  2. Readers' reports and display of dissertation Readers' reports to Graduate School and display of dissertation in Department office at least 3 weeks prior to date of oral.
  3. Final Public Oral Dates by which results must be in are prescribed by Schedule of the Graduate School ; they are usually set for a day in October, December, and May roughly 3 to 4 weeks before the Trustee's Meeting of the following month.

For Example:
October 30, 1999
December 27, 1999
May 1, 2000Since dates vary each year, please check with the Department Administrator for exact deadlines.

  1. Binding of dissertation Corrections (if needed) and final binding to be completed within 1 week of Final Public Oral.
    Students have a total of five years following their Generals to complete dissertations. A special waiver by the Department is required thereafter.

Dissertation Defense/Final Public Oral

A. Nature of Oral

Students present a summary of their dissertation in a formal presentation lasting roughly thirty minutes which explicates the subject and critical approach that inform the dissertation, additionally describing, if appropriate, their future plans for the project. Student presentations are followed by questions about the dissertation and its ramifications by faculty and graduate students (if they so wish) who are present. Questioning usually lasts an additional hour.

B. Examiners

The examining committee must consist of at least the primary adviser, the secondary advisor, and one additional member of the faculty in the field. It is departmental policy to invite, in addition, all members of the department to attend the oral if they wish.

Since the Final Oral is public, all interested persons may attend.

C. Timing

Final public orals are not offered in June, July, or August.