For multilingual, multimedia minds.
Comparative Literature asks you to read across languages, media, and histories—to put a novel beside a film, a lyric beside a meme, a manifesto beside a video essay—and to ask how ideas travel and transform. In an age of AI, migration, and disinformation, the comparative method trains you to notice form, context, and translation as ethical practices, not just techniques. You learn to analyze how power, gender, and race shape culture; to treat literature as a laboratory for thinking; and to write with precision and imagination for different audiences. Most degrees train you for one sector; Comparative Literature equips you to create connections that others miss, to lead with curiosity and rigor, and to shape conversations that matter.
Explore COLT
Call for Papers
The Department of Comparative Literature is delighted to announce the third annual Undergraduate Symposium, “The Body Writes Back: Performance and Praxis,” to be held on January 23, 2026.
With this theme, we approach the body not merely as a biological or representational form, but as a site where histories, languages, and affects are inscribed and contested. The symposium itself functions as a performative site, translating theory into action and refining critical thought through practice.
With this symposium, we aim to provide a forum for USC undergraduates to present and discuss their research among peers, faculty, and invited guests. The conference program will include student presentations and a guest lecture.
Meet the Director of Undergraduate Studies
I’m thrilled to welcome you into a program that’s flexible, rigorous, and unapologetically cross-border. Here, you won’t just read more—you’ll read differently: asking how ideas move, translate, and transform across cultures.
As you learn to think critically and communicate across worlds. You’ll deepen your linguistic and intercultural competence, sharpen your analytical writing, and test big questions about power, gender, race, and representation. Classes are small by design, so you’ll get real mentorship—from our advising team and from professors who know your work and champion your growth. Want to go further? You can pursue honors and craft a research project of your own design, working closely with our distinguished faculty along the way.
We also celebrate what you make. Each year we award prizes for the best student paper in Comparative Literature and recognize our most accomplished majors. If you’re ready for a major that gives you range—and the guidance to use it well—come see what we’re building. I can’t wait to meet you.
Gian Maria Annovi
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Comparative Literature (USC)
