Comparative Literature/Russian

Comparative literature and Russian is a combination that takes both breadth and depth seriously, linking the international, cross-cultural discipline of comparative literature with one of the world's great languages and its remarkable literary tradition. Comparative literature examines texts from multiple national traditions, asking what connects and distinguishes different cultures' ways of telling stories and engaging with fundamental human questions, and developing the skills of cross-cultural literary analysis that can only be acquired by reading widely across languages and periods. Russian opens a literary and cultural world of extraordinary richness, from Pushkin and Dostoyevsky to Chekhov and Bulgakov, and provides the linguistic access to a body of work that loses much in translation.

At the University of Glasgow this five-year programme, which includes a sandwich year and work placements, gives you sufficient time to develop genuine depth in both disciplines. The comparative literature dimension develops your ability to read across national and temporal boundaries, engaging with texts from multiple traditions and developing the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the discipline. The Russian strand builds your language proficiency alongside engagement with Russian literature, culture, history and contemporary society.

The work placements and sandwich year provide professional experience in cultural, educational, literary or other relevant contexts before you graduate.

Graduates of comparative literature and Russian are well placed for careers in translation and interpreting, publishing and literary editing, academic research in literature or area studies, journalism with a Russian or international focus, cultural diplomacy, cultural organisations and heritage institutions, and education. The linguistic access to Russian-language materials in politics, business and culture is particularly valuable given Russia's continued strategic importance in global affairs. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in comparative literature, Russian, translation studies, area studies or literary theory, deepening their specialist expertise or developing a research focus.