Program Description

Students majoring in literature at Purchase College learn to read texts closely and critically and to understand literature in relation to the social and historical conditions in which it is written and read. The principal focus of the major is British and American literature; the program places these national literatures in an international frame. Thus, students may count toward the major courses in French, Spanish, and other literatures, in translation or in the original language. In addition to courses in traditional literatures, students may take courses in contemporary literature, popular culture, and film. Feminist inquiry, the critical study of race, and other theoretical or interdisciplinary approaches are central to the literature curriculum. In learning to read, write, and think about literature and the world it reflects, inhabits, and creates, students gain valuable preparation for advanced academic study and for the professional world.

Program Faculty

Requirements for the Major

A minimum of nine literature courses (at least five at the 3000 or 4000 level; at least four taken at Purchase College) and an 8-credit senior project, all with a grade of C or higher:

• Colloquium I: Studies in Literature
  Generally taken in the second year; transfer students who wish to major in literature must complete this course during their first semester at Purchase College.
• Three courses in the literature sequence (courses that emphasize issues of history and period): One each from sequence I (before 1750), II (1750–1900), and III (1900–present)
• Three courses of the student’s choice (Introduction to Literature is strongly recommended for freshmen considering the literature major)
• Colloquium II: Advanced Studies in Literature
• Senior Project Seminar
• Senior Project in Literature

Representative Courses

The Ancient Epic
Introduction to African-American Literature
The Faust Legends in Literature
Prosody: Verse and Versification
U.S. Short Story
Classics of European Fiction
Introduction to Shakespeare
The Bible
Survey of U.S. Literature I, II & III Lesbian and Gay Fiction
Dostoevsky and Tolstoy
Women and Film
Caribbean Writers
Literature of the Middle Passage
Medieval English Literature
Chaucer
Renaissance in England
Literature of the High Middle Ages
British Culture and Society in the 20th Century
South Asian Literature
The Renaissance in Europe
Milton
Romanticism I & II
James Joyce
Goethe to Kundera
Feminism and Culture
Contemporary U.S. Literature
Poetry and the Avant-Garde

Representative Alumni

• Dante Albertie ’89, director, The Lovinger Theatre at Lehman College, City University of New York
• Figen Bingül ’03, Turkish-English translator
• Samantha Extance ’06, Ph.D. candidate in English, University of Tulsa; intern, James Joyce Quarterly
• Bert Fink ’82, vice president, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization
• Carol Howard ’86 Ph.D., Columbia University; professor and chair, English Department, Warren Wilson College
• Jody Person ’99, M.F.A., Rutgers University; director and co-founder, Elixir Productions Theatre Company; teaches at Mercer Community College in New Jersey
• Daniel J. Rubin ’89, playwright, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
• Megan Stein ’00, winner of the Fashion Grand Prize at the “Arts of Fashion 2005” international competition in Paris

For more information, visit the Literature site in Academic Programs.

Updated May 27, 2008