Department of English and Comparative Literature

Established in 1920, the program in English and Comparative Literature introduces students to the way literature shapes individuals, societies and cultures. It trains students on how to read critically and prompts them to engage with the central problems of human experience.

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Message From The Chair

Welcome to the Department of English and Comparative Literature! It is the only department of English and Comparative Literature in the Arab world and one of the oldest departments at the American University in Cairo. Our department draws from the rich literary traditions of the Arab world, Africa, and the global South. The department has a distinguished faculty, comparatists and specialists in a broad range of areas, who have drawn upon our cross-cultural environment, contributed to new directions in the field, and rethought the study of comparative literature in the Arab world.

The Study of English and Comparative Literature

Samuel Cooper, Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, walks us through the study of this discipline and explains the power of literature.

Programs Offered

English and Comparative Literature: BA

The undergraduate program offers a thorough grounding in aesthetic appreciation and critical reading of literary texts and various cultural media. Courses encapsulate the classic works of English and European literature, from ancient times until the present. Courses also provide a strong theoretical background into the history of critical appreciation and production of literary texts, from ecocriticism to postcolonialism, and from gender to postmodernism.

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English and Comparative Literature: MA

The graduate programs in English and comparative literature offer students an opportunity to analyze the different questions that literature has posed about the central problems of human experience.

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