Comparative Literature/Scottish Literature

Comparative literature is the study of literary works across national and cultural boundaries, examining texts from different languages, traditions, and periods in relation to each other and to the critical and theoretical frameworks that help us understand how literature works. It resists the narrowness of national literary canons, asking what happens when we read across borders and what the patterns and differences across traditions reveal about human experience and the particular cultures in which literature is made. Pairing it with Scottish literature brings one of Europe's most distinctive national traditions into this comparative framework.

At the University of Glasgow this four-year, full-time Joint Honours programme develops your engagement with both disciplines within an exceptional environment for each. You will study comparative literature from a range of periods and traditions, developing the critical and theoretical vocabulary to analyse literary works across languages and cultural contexts. The Scottish literature component takes you through one of Europe's richest national literary traditions, from the medieval Makars and the poetry of Burns through the Scottish Renaissance and the extraordinary variety of contemporary writing in Scots, English, and Gaelic.

A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner university and to encounter different literary cultures at first hand.

Graduates of this combination move into careers in publishing, journalism, education, heritage, the cultural sector, the arts, and the civil service. The research, analytical, and communication skills both disciplines develop are valued across a wide range of professional contexts, and graduates who can engage with literature across languages and traditions, and who understand the particular cultural landscape of Scotland, are distinctive in the graduate job market. Many continue to postgraduate study in comparative literature, Scottish literature, or a related field, building towards academic research careers or specialist professional practice in editing, translation, or cultural heritage.