• Researching the historical and social impact of literature as well as the ways in which historical circumstances shape artists' creative work and literary movements is encouraged, and many courses promote the reading of literature in the original language.
  • Students can focus on a specific national or language-literature (for example, English, French, Russian) or alternately pursue a more comparative or multi-cultural approach (literature of the African Diaspora, Hispano-American literature, European comparative literature, post-colonial literature).
  • Students often design interdisciplinary concentrations that combine the study of literature with other areas of the arts or humanities (for example, art history, film, philosophy, religion) or develop interdisciplinary fields such as literature and environmental studies or literature and law.