Comparative Literature/Italian

Comparative literature and Italian is a combination that takes seriously the idea that literature is a global conversation rather than a collection of separate national traditions, while also providing deep engagement with one of the most significant of those traditions. Comparative literature asks how texts from different languages, cultures, and periods speak to and illuminate each other; Italian studies opens one of the richest of those traditions, with a literary history stretching from Dante and Petrarch through Boccaccio, Ariosto, and Leopardi to the twentieth-century work of Calvino, Moravia, and Pasolini, and into the contemporary Italian literary scene.

At Glasgow you will study literary works across national and linguistic boundaries alongside intensive engagement with Italian language, literature, and culture. Comparative literature trains you to think across traditions, to understand questions of translation and cultural transfer, to work with theoretical frameworks for literary analysis, and to read texts in relation to each other rather than in isolation. Italian study develops your language proficiency to a high level while deepening your cultural and literary engagement with Italy and Italophone culture.

The five-year full-time programme includes a sandwich placement year with a work placement, giving you professional experience in a relevant context, whether in publishing, cultural organisations, teaching, or international business.

Graduates pursue careers in academia, publishing, translation, journalism, cultural organisations, international business, teaching, and the arts. High-level Italian language skills combined with the analytical breadth of comparative literature training is a genuinely distinctive combination in the job market. Many students continue to postgraduate study in comparative literature, Italian studies, translation, or related fields.