Comparative Literature and German and Russian
Comparative literature with German and Russian is an unusually broad combination, bringing together the study of literature across cultures and languages with deep engagement with two of the major European literary traditions. Comparative literature opens up reading without borders, examining how texts from different linguistic and cultural contexts speak to one another, share themes and forms, and reveal what is distinctively particular about the societies that produce them. German literature encompasses one of the richest traditions in world letters, from Goethe and Schiller through Kafka and Brecht to contemporary writing.
Russian literature is equally extraordinary in its scope and ambition, spanning Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov and the revolutionary modernism of the Soviet avant-garde.
At the University of St Andrews you will read comparative literature across periods, genres and cultures in English translation, while developing genuine language proficiency in both German and Russian alongside immersion in their respective literary and cultural contexts. You will push at the boundaries of textual analysis, learning to read across traditions and to understand the relationships between literatures around the world. The programme runs over four years full time and includes a year abroad, giving you immersive experience of the German-speaking and Russian-speaking worlds and direct engagement with the cultures you have been studying.
Graduates of this combination bring exceptional breadth of literary and cultural knowledge to their professional lives. Careers in academia, literary translation, publishing, journalism, broadcasting, cultural diplomacy, arts administration and international organisations all draw on these skills. The combination of two major European languages with comparative critical thinking is rare and valued wherever organisations engage with German and Russian contexts.
Postgraduate study in comparative literature, literary translation, German, Russian or Slavonic studies is a natural further route.