Comparative Literature & Culture

Comparative literature and culture places literary texts and cultural works from different traditions and languages alongside one another, asking what they share, where they diverge, and what we learn from the comparison. It is a discipline that resists the assumption that any one literary tradition is the norm, and it develops in its students the ability to move between languages, cultures, and historical periods with intellectual agility and genuine curiosity. The field encompasses poetry, fiction, drama, film, and other cultural forms, and it engages seriously with questions of translation, interpretation, and cultural exchange.

At the University of Aberdeen, this five-year full-time programme gives you the time and depth to develop a genuinely comparative and global outlook on literature and culture. The extended duration reflects both the Scottish degree structure and the ambition of the programme: you will move across a wide range of literary and cultural traditions, studying works from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and beyond in translation as well as in languages you develop during the course. You will engage with literary theory, cultural history, and critical method, developing the analytical and interpretive skills that comparative literary study demands.

A year abroad is part of the programme, giving you an invaluable opportunity to study at a partner institution in another country and to encounter a different cultural and academic tradition from within.

You will develop strong skills in close reading, multilingual engagement, theoretical analysis, and sustained written argument, as well as the cultural empathy and intellectual open-mindedness that come from seriously engaging with traditions very different from your own.

Graduates of comparative literature and culture go on to careers in publishing, journalism, translation, education, cultural organisations, international business, diplomacy, and arts administration. The analytical and communication skills developed transfer widely. Postgraduate study in comparative literature, cultural studies, translation studies, or literary theory is a natural continuation for those who wish to pursue research or an academic career.