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

Your interest in the Department of English and Comparative Literature (ECLT) is most welcome.

ECLT is internationally known for teaching comparative literature where the cultural dimension of the Arab World, the African Continent, and the Third World is highlighted in its program. It is the only Department in the region that offers training in English and Comparative Literature while simultaneously emphasizing relevant social issues—gender, migration, and postcolonial studies.

Programs Offered

English and Comparative Literature

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

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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News

Haifaa Al-Mansour ’97 Saudi Arabia’s firm female filmmaker is making big waves regionally and internationally

May 27, 2019

Haifa al-Mansour, an alumna of AUC, a graduate of ECLT, and first female Saudi film director, is showing her new film, The Perfect Candidate in Venice Film Festival this summer. It is a tale of a woman tackling gender-based obstacles. The movie is one of only two female directors in the 21-strong competition lineup at the Venice Film Festival.

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Faculty Awarded for Distinguished Contributions

April 5, 2016

Recognized for their contributions, two faculty members were honored at the Spring 2016 commencement ceremony: Zeinab Amin, associate professor of the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science and director of the actuarial science program, received the Excellence in Academic Service Award, and Ferial Ghazoul, professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, was presented with the Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award. The awardees were selected by a committee that included representatives from each school.

Three Winners for the Madalyn Lamont Literary Award

August 1, 2014

The Department of English and Comparative Literature (ECLT) in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences recognized three students at the 2014 Madalyn Lamont Literary Award ceremony for the most creative writing pieces in English. The Madalyn Lamont Literary Award was started in 1986 in memory of Madalyn Lamont, an instructor in the writing program, a poet and a women’s rights activist. The awared recognizes students with creative skills in narrative, poetry and drama writing.