Comparative Literature in France: A Status Report

Abstract

69 Comparative Literature in France has benefited not only from a solid academic tradition but also from an institutional recognition which has given support to students from the first years at university to the agregation and doctorate level. This explains the relatively high number of lecturers/researchers who are comparatists in this country, around 200 academic staff (maitres de conferences and professeurs) teach Comparative Literature from the first semester at university up to agregation and doctoral seminars (although this number is considerably lower than it should be if we compare it to the staff/student ratio of other literary disciplines). The European reform (LMD) has confirmed Comparative Literature as a compulsory component of French literary studies at both undergraduate and master degree levels. This means that a taught component of Comparative Literature is compulsory for French literature students throughout their studies (and if they compete for the agregation in modern languages and literature, they have to take two major examinations in the subject, one written and one oral). For foreign language students, Comparative Literature is an option they can take within the course of their studies. While courses in Comparative Literature at undergraduate degree level (i.e., the first three years of study) can be very varied, they tend by and large to aggregate around the study of themes (e.g., jealously in the novel), genre (e.g., the picaresque novel, the fantastic narrative, theatre during the Baroque era, etc.), literary myths, or the relationships that obtain between literature and the other arts (music, painting, cinema). The goal of many such courses is to introduce students to the main currents of European and extra-European literature; in most instances texts will be studied in French translation rather than the original, limiting the choice of texts. The recently implemented new Master’s degree, incorporating a