Comparative Literature
The Department of Comparative Literature strongly encourages its students to undertake a semester and/or a summer (or more) abroad, in order to gain fluency in their primary foreign language, learn a second foreign language, or pursue further study in the literatures and cultures of these languages.
Most students choose to study abroad for a single term during the junior year; but a year abroad is also possible. Two courses per semester abroad may be used to fulfill departmental requirements.
There are numerous opportunities for summer study abroad, some partially supported by University funds. A summer abroad can increase fluency or be an effective way to satisfy the departmental requirement of developing reading knowledge in a second foreign language. For more information about available programs, students should consult the director of undergraduate studies in comparative literature and also in the individual language and literature departments. Some departmental funding is available for summer language study for concentrators.
Although there is a wide range of programs to choose from, and students are encouraged to investigate all options pertinent to their program of study, Dean Nancy Kanach and the departmental director of undergraduate studies maintain a list of recommended programs around the globe.
Of special note is the new program to spend the fall of junior year in a special program at University College London (UCL), the oldest and largest of the constituent colleges of the University of London. This program is a result of the combined efforts of Princeton and UCL faculty members and offers a rigorous, exciting, and rewarding program of study at a top-ranked institution in one of the world’s great capital cities. Students take three UCL courses and the Junior Seminar in Critical Writing (ENG 300, a Princeton course taught by a Princeton professor exclusively for Princeton students). The seminar culminates in the writing of the Junior Paper.
In recent years, Comparative Literature majors have studied abroad through the following programs:
- Argentine Universities Program (COPA-IFSA-Butler consortium), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- CIEE Study Center, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Associated Colleges in China, Beijing, China
- Princeton in Cuba, University of Havana, Cuba
- UPCES at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- American University in Cairo, Egypt
- Worcester College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England
- University College London, England
- Academic Programs Abroad, Paris, France
- Center for University Programs Abroad (CUPA), Paris, France
- Columbia-Penn Program in Paris at Reid Hall, France
- CIEE Study Center, Critical Studies Program, Paris, France
- University of Nantes, France
- Berlin Consortium for German Studies, Berlin, Germany
- Brown-in-Italy at the University of Bologna, Italy
- Boston University in Padua, Italy
- Eastern College Consortium in Bolgna, Italy
- Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Italy
- Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, Japan
- Universidad Iberoamericana via Loyola University, Mexico City, Mexico
- Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Middlebury College School in Moscow, Russia
- University of St. Andrews, via IFSA-Butler, Fife, Scotland
- CIEE Study Center, Dakar, Senegal
- Boston University in Madrid, Spain
- Consortium for Advanced Studies in Barcelona, Spain
- Hamilton College Academic Year in Spain, Madrid, Spain
- CIEE Study Center, Madrid, Spain
- IES Program, Salamanca, Spain