Department of English and Comparative Literature (GRAD)

Admissions Requirements

Application for admission must be made by The Graduate School's electronic application process. These also serve as applications for fellowships and assistantships if the applicant marks the appropriate statement on the form.

Applicants for advanced degrees must have completed an undergraduate degree, customarily with a major in English, comparative literature, a foreign literature, area studies, or related field, at the time of enrollment. To be reviewed for admission by the department's graduate advisory committee, applications must be supported by Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, at least three letters of recommendation, and official transcripts showing courses, grades, and degrees awarded. A writing sample and a personal statement also should be submitted. Those students applying to the Ph.D. program who wish to focus on comparative literature should also submit (by email as an mp3 or mp4 file) a three- to five-minute recorded sample of the student reading a selection of text in his or her second language beyond English. This recorded sample should be sent to the attention of the graduate student services manager, whose email can be found on the department's web page.

Students who have already completed an M.A. degree in English, comparative literature, a foreign language literature, or comparative literature at another institution may petition the relevant director of graduate studies for a reduction of up to nine credits (three courses) from their UNC–Chapel Hill requirements. More information about the department can be obtained via its website.

Fellowships and Assistantships

Financial support for graduate students is described in the Admissions and Financial Information section of the Graduate Catalog. All applicants to the Department of English and Comparative Literature are eligible to compete for University fellowships and assistantships. In addition, the department awards two types of assistantships–research assistantships and teaching fellowships. Neither is usually available in the summer. Research assistants are assigned to faculty members to help with research projects. Teaching fellows have full instructional responsibility for sections of beginning composition or, in the case of some comparative literature students, foreign language courses. Graduate students in the third year of the English Ph.D. program who also have taught at least four sections of composition become eligible for teaching literature courses. Non-native speakers are not considered for teaching fellowships until they have been enrolled in the Ph.D. program for at least a year. Teaching fellows earn an annual stipend; they are trained and supervised by the directors of composition and undergraduate studies, and they are subject to student and faculty evaluation.

Library and Research Facilities

The library system at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is ranked among the top 20 research libraries in the United States. It has excellent holdings for the study of English philology and British and American literature, including the Southern Historical Collection (containing manuscripts, letters, and diaries) and the Hanes Collection of Incunabula. Through cooperative arrangements, university libraries in the Triangle area are open to graduate students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Courses

Numbered 400-999:

Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature

The English and comparative literature program offers a course of study leading to a doctor of philosophy degree, with potential specializations in a range of areas. We encourage our graduate students to discover a particular field, learn its histories, and define its problems. Through coursework, independent reading, and research, and with the support of an academic advisor, students develop a major field of study, as well as a focus of interest that often takes shape within or adjacent to the major field of study. The student's organization of the field and focus should to be rigorous enough to situate the student within a discipline, tradition, or area, and supple enough to accommodate his or her specific interests, questions, and predilections. Subject to the approval of the academic advisor and the director of graduate studies, the field and focus will form the basis of the Ph.D. examination (written exams on each field and an oral exam on both thereafter). One's focus can be defined in many different ways. It can be characterized in terms of a genre, such as drama, lyric, the novel, film, literary criticism, or theory; or in terms of a particular period. For doctoral students focusing on English literature, suggested fields include:

Medieval literature
Renaissance literature
18th-Century British literature
Romanticism
Victorian literature
19th-Century American literature
20th-Century American literature
Critical theory
Digital humanities
Medicine and literature
Multi-ethnic American literature
Cultural studies
Rhetoric and composition
Film studies, among many others

A partial list of well-recognized foci for both English and comparative literature includes

Philosophy and literature
History of science/medicine/technology/psychology
Visual culture/art history (including photography, et al.)
Cinema/film studies
Sexuality studies/gender studies/queer theory
Anthropology and literature
Religion and literature
Politics and/or social thought
Theater/spectacle/performance theory
Poetics/literary criticism
Literary and/or cultural theory

For those concentrating on comparative literature, the focus will always cross linguistic boundaries from the student's primary into the secondary language(s) and will complement the broader, more diachronic coverage in the primary geo-cultural tradition.

Comparative literature at UNC–Chapel Hill boasts particularly strong resources in medieval and early modern literature, comparative romanticisms, visual culture and global cinema, and Romance language studies. Comparative literature draws together a number of core faculty and many more affiliated faculty from across the University and strives to balance a belief in the value of a shared critical language with the exigencies of working in particular national languages, locations, literatures, and media. The comparative literature field maps out a general field of study within a primary geo-cultural literary tradition and over a broad chronological period. The phrase "geo-cultural literary tradition" is intended to describe what in some cases might be called a national literature tradition, but clearly not in all cases. Students may choose from, but are not limited to, such fields as

African and/or African Diaspora literatures
American literatures–either United States or North American and/or Central American and/or South American
Caribbean literatures (in French, English, Spanish, and other languages)
Classical literatures
East Asian literatures
English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh/"British" literatures
French and/or Francophone literatures
Germanic literatures
Italian literature
Latin American literatures (Spanish or Spanish/Portuguese)
Middle Eastern/Arabic/Islamic literatures
Postcolonial literatures–New World (Canadian/Caribbean), or South Asian, or Pacific Rim, etc.
Russian and/or Slavic literatures
South Asian literatures
Spanish/Iberian literatures

Examples of periods would include

Classical (Greek, Roman, Late Antiquity/Early Christian)
Medieval (or premodern Islam/Asian studies)
Renaissance/Early Modern (usually up to 1700 in Northern Europe)
Neoclassical/18th Century/Enlightenment/"Age of Empire"
Early Transatlantic/Colonial Americas (roughly 1450–1750, or a portion thereof)
Enlightenment/Romanticism (roughly 1750–1840)
Nineteenth Century
Modernism (late 19th and early-to-mid 20th Century)
Contemporary (1945 to the present)

For the doctor of philosophy degree in English and comparative literature, students must fulfill the following course requirements: a pedagogy course and an introduction to graduate study. Students following a comparative literature track are also required to complete CMPL 841: History of Literary Criticism. In addition to coursework, a candidate for the Ph.D. must pass two written examinations and an oral defense of the examinations administered by the department, for which the student prepares by working closely with a faculty committee a year in advance. Doctoral candidates focusing on English literature must also demonstrate a reading knowledge of one foreign language. Doctoral candidates focusing on comparative literature must demonstrate expert-level proficiency in two foreign languages (one of which must be demonstrated at the time of application). The program culminates with the candidate writing a dissertation (and registering for at least three semester hours of ENGL 994) and successfully defending it in an oral examination. Students must also satisfy residence credit requirements set by The Graduate School. The department strongly recommends that candidates for the Ph.D. have supervised classroom teaching experience before receiving the degree. Such experience, when it can be offered, is considered as fulfilling a requirement for the degree.

M.A. in English with a Concentration in Literature, Medicine, and Culture

The M.A. in English's concentration in literature, medicine, and culture works closely with the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Social Medicine. Students enrolled in the concentration are expected to participate in interdisciplinary coursework and research projects with faculty from across the University. Faculty in the literature, medicine, and culture concentration come from over a dozen departments across the University, as well as the Honors Program, which also offers an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in the field. Among the many distinctions of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is its School of Medicine, ranked second in primary care by U.S. News & World Report. With its hospital and allied schools of Nursing and Social Work, the school stands only a few minutes’ walk from the College of Arts and Sciences, where over a dozen departments rank among the top 25 nationally in their fields. Students benefit from close proximity between top-ranked programs in the healthcare and the liberal arts.

Professors

Daniel R. Anderson, Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy
David J. Baker, Renaissance, Drama, Renaissance Studies
A. Reid Barbour, Renaissance, Renaissance Studies
Marsha Collins, Modern Peninsular Literature, Golden Age Spanish Literature
María DeGuzmán, Latino/Latina Studies, 20th-Century American, Critical Theory
Florence Dore, 20th-Century American, Southern Literature, Post-1945 Literature
Eric Downing, Literary Theory, Comparative Literature, Aesthetics
Mary Floyd-Wilson, Renaissance, Drama, Renaissance Studies
Philip Gura, American, American Studies
Jordynn Jack, Rhetoric and Composition
Heidi Kim, 20th-Century American, Asian American Literature
Laurie Langbauer, 19th-Century British, Critical Theory
Michael A. McFee, Creative Writing
Jeanne Moskal, 19th-Century British, Critical Theory, Women's Studies
Eliza Richards, American Literature
Bland Simpson, Creative Writing
Jane Thrailkill, American, 20th-Century American
Joseph S. Viscomi, 19th-Century British
Daniel Wallace, Creative Writing
Jessica Wolfe, Renaissance, Renaissance Studies

Associate Professors

Inger S.B. Brodey, 18th- and 19th-Century British Novel, Comparative Literature, Philosophy
Gabrielle Calvocaressi, Creative Writing, Poetry
Danielle Christmas, African American Literature, 20th-Century American
Pamela Cooper, 20th-Century British, Cultural Studies, Novel, Women's Studies
Tyler Curtain, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Novel
Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Candace Epps-Robertson, Rhetoric and Composition
Gregory Flaxman, Film Studies, 20th-Century British, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies
Ylce Irizarry, Latino/Latina Studies
Martin Johnson, Film Studies
Meta DuEwa Jones, African American Literature, 20th Century American Literature, Poetry
Shayne Legassie, Medieval, Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature
Theodore H. Leinbaugh, Medieval, Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature
Inga Pollmann, Film, Global Cinema Studies
Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, African American, American, Black Intellectual Thought, Critical Theory
Kim Stern, 19th-Century British
Matthew Taylor, American Literature, Cultural Studies, Theory and Criticism
Rick Warner, Film, Global Cinema Studies

Assistant Professors

Gabriel Bump, Creative Writing
Taylor Cowdery, Late Medieval Literature, Early Modern Poetry, Medieval Studies
H.M. Cushman, Late Medieval Literature, Medieval Studies
Tyree Daye, Creative Writing
Stephanie DeGooyer, Transatlantic 19th Century Literature, Law and Literature

Professors Emeriti

William L. Andrews
Christopher M. Armitage
Laurence G. Avery
James W. Coleman
Alan C. Dessen
Jane M. Danielewicz
Pam Durban
Connie Eble
Joseph Flora
Joy Kasson
Johnny Lee Greene
Minrose Gwin
William Harmon
Trudier Harris
Howard M. Harper Jr.
Mae Henderson
Fred Hobson
Randall Kenan
Ritchie D. Kendall
Edward Donald Kennedy
J. Kimball King
George S. Lensing Jr.
Allan R. Life
Erika C. Lindemann
C. Townsend Ludington Jr.
Megan Matchinske
John P. McGowan
Margaret A. O'Connor
Daniel W. Patterson
Julius R. Raper III
Thomas Reinert
Richard D. Rust
Ruth Salvaggio
James Seay
Thomas A. Stumpf
Beverly Taylor
Weldon E. Thornton
Linda Wagner-Martin
David Whisnant
Joseph S. Wittig
Charles G. Zug III

Comparative Literature Faculty

Professors

Marsha S. Collins, Modern Peninsular Literature, Golden Age Spanish Literature
Eric S. Downing, 18th- and 19th-Century Literature, Literary Theory, Classics
Clayton Koelb, Modern Literature, Literary Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics, Comparative Literature
Jessica Wolfe, Comparative Renaissance Literature, Classical Reception

Associate Professors

Inger S.B. Brodey, Prose Fiction in Late 18th- and Early 19th-Century Europe and Meiji Japan
Gregory Flaxman, Film Studies, Critical Theory
Shayne Legassie, Medieval, Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature
Rick Warner, Global Cinema Studies

Adjunct and Affiliate Professors (All Ranks)

Sharon James, Professor, Department of Classics
Janice H. Koelb, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature, British Romanticism, Poetry and Poetics
Hassan Melehy, Professor, Department of Romance Studies, French
Inga Pollman, Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, German, Cinema Studies
Alicia Rivero, Associate Professor, Department of Romance Studies, Contemporary Spanish American Literature, Modern Critical Theory, Gender Issues, Literature and Science, Intellectual History
Yaron Shemer, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Israeli and Middle Eastern Cinema
Michael Silk, Professor, King's College London, Classics
Robin Visser, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Chinese Literature and Culture

Professors Emeriti

Dino Cervigni
Edward D. Kennedy
George A. Kennedy
Diane Leonard
James Peacock
William Race
Philip A. Stadter

Department of English and Comparative Literature

Visit Program Website

Chair

Marsha Collins

marcol@email.unc.edu

Director of Graduate Studies

Kim Stern

kstern@email.unc.edu