Literature

[2009-10 update to the General Catalog, changes highlighted]

303 Humanities 1
(831) 459-4778
http://literature.ucsc.edu/

Program Description
The study of literature at UCSC is organized as an interdisciplinary field coordinated through a single
Department of Literature, rather than through separate departments of English, modern languages, and
classics. This structure fosters innovative and comparative approaches to literature among both faculty
and students. Courses in the major encompass traditional literary history and interpretation as well as
cross-cultural inquiry and current theoretical debates.
The literature major permits focused work in national literary traditions. Students may concentrate in
English-language literatures; in French, German, or Italian; in Latin and/or Greek; or in Spanish/Latin
American/Latino literatures. Alternatively, students may organize their studies by historical period.
Students who choose pre- and early modern studies focus on early literary traditions from antiquity
through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the neo-classical period, while those engaged in modern
literary studies concentrate on literature of the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. In addition, the world
literature and cultural studies concentration emphasizes non-Western literatures, literature in a global
context, as well as non-literary forms of cultural production. Finally, the Literature Department also offers
a concentration in creative writing in which, in addition to studying literature, students work with faculty
in upper-division workshops to improve their own creative writing skills.
Literature majors at UCSC are trained in critical reading, writing, and thinking, as well as in literary
interpretation. These skills have wide applicability: they may lead to careers in other media such as film,
theater, video, the visual arts, and electronic media; and they offer avenues into related disciplines such as
history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, politics, and history of art and visual culture.
Literature majors traditionally enter a wide variety of careers ranging from law and journalism to
management, government, international studies, publishing, technical writing, and teaching at all levels.
The Literature Department faculty strongly recommendsrequires that all students study aliterature majors
have proficiency in a second language. Proficiency in more than one language vastly enhances
understanding of any literature and of language artsculture in general. Graduate programs in literature and
other humanities disciplines generally require competence in another a language besides other than
English.

Letter Grade Requirement

Letter grades are required for 75 percent of courses applied toward the literature major, including the
senior seminar, which must be taken for a letter grade.

Declaring the Major or Minor

Students must complete Literature 1 or its equivalent prior to declaring the major or minor. Students
declare a major or minor in literature by completing and submitting a Proposed Study Plan and
Declaration of Major/Minor petition. All students considering a literature major or minor should consult
with staff and/or faculty advisers as early as possible and declare the major or minor before the end of
their sophomore year. Transfer students are urged to declare the major or minor in the first quarter at
UCSC.

Literature Major Options

Students wishing to major in literature may choose either the standard literature major or the intensive
literature major. The intensive literature major is recommended particularly for students who plan to
continue their studies in graduate school. The requirements for the intensive major include the study of
literature in two languages; proficiency in a second language is therefore required.
The Standard Literature Major
Thirteen courses are required: three lower-division and ten upper-division courses. One of the latter can be
a Senior Seminar, which can be used to satisfy the campus comprehensive (exit) requirement. In
exceptional cases, and with faculty permission, students may write a senior thesis to satisfy the exit
requirement.The literature major requires: (1) proficiency in a second language; and (2) 12 courses in
literature.
• Language proficiency: One year (three quarters or equivalent) of college level study of a non-
English language or demonstrated reading ability at this level.
• The 12 required courses must include two lower-division and 10 upper-division courses.
Students must successfully complete Literature 1, Literary Interpretation, or its equivalent prior to
declaring the literature major or minor.
Lower-Division Courses
Lower-division courses are introductions to critical reading and writing. Students should complete their
lower-division course work before beginning upper-division work.
Three Two lower-division courses are required:
Literature 1, Literary Interpretation: close reading and analysis of literary texts
•
• one One Literature 61-series course: categories, methodologies, and problems of literary
study, or o
• one Literature 80-series course: topical, thematic, and comparative studies of literary texts
texts
Language proficiency: One year (three quarters or equivalent) of college level study of a non-English
language or demonstrated reading ability at this level
Upper-Division Courses
Upper-division courses provide more detailed treatment of literary and theoretical problems, themes, and
periods. Students are strongly encouraged to take courses across chronological periods and national
boundaries. Students must successfully complete the language proficiency requirement before enrolling in
Literature 102.
Ten upper-division courses are required:
• Literature 101, Theory and Interpretation: approaches to literary and cultural theories
• Literature 102, Translation Theory: approaches to literary and cultural translation, or one
upper-division non-English literature course studied in the original language. Students must
successfully complete the language proficiency requirement before enrolling in Literature 102
• six upper-division courses in an area of concentration (described below)
• three two upper-division electives in literature
Distribution requirements. Among the 10 upper-division courses, at least two must focus on literature
written prior to the year 1750; one course must focus on non-Western literature or literature in a global
perspective; and one course must focus on poetry. One of the upper-division courses must be a Senior
Seminar, which can be used to satisfy the campus comprehensive (exit) requirement. Some courses fulfill
more than one of these distribution requirements. A list of annual course offerings indicating distribution
codes for each course is available in the department office or on the Literature Department web page at
http://literature.ucsc.edu/courses.
With prior permission from a faculty adviserthe literature undergraduate program director, one upper-
division literature elective may be replaced by an upper-division course related to the student’s area of
concentration and chosen from another program in the humanities, arts, or social sciences.
The Intensive Literature Major
Fifteen courses are required: three lower-division and 12 upper-division courses. One of the upper-
division courses may be a Senior Seminar, which can be used to satisfy the campus comprehensive (exit)
requirement.The Intensive Literature major requires (1) proficiency in a second language, and (2) 14
courses in literature.
• Language proficiency: in addition to the Standard Literature major requirement of one-year
(three quarters or equivalent) of college- level study of a non-English language, or
demonstrated reading ability at this level, students must complete at leas two upper-division
courses in a second-language literature studied in the original language. In many languages,
two years of college-level study (or comparable ability) are needed before a student is
prepared to enter an upper-division course. In a few languages (Greek, Latin, Middle Egyptian
Hieroglyphs), less time is needed for this purpose.
• The 14 required courses must include two lower-division and 12 upper-division courses.

Lower-Division Courses
The same requirements apply as for the standard literature major. Students who choose the intensive
literature major are required to achieve competence in a second-language literature. Upper-division
literature course work may requires completion of a lower-division language sequence or the equivalent.
Upper-Division Courses
The intensive major requires 12 upper-division courses. Distribution requirements for the intensive major
are the same as those for the standard literature major. In addition, students must complete at least two
courses in a second-language literature studied in the original language. As in the standard major, with
prior permission from a faculty adviserthe literature undergraduate program director, one upper-division
literature elective may be replaced by an upper-division course related to the student’s area of
concentration and chosen from another program in the humanities, arts, or social sciences.

The Concentrations
The purpose of the upper-division area of concentration is to help students shape a coherent program of
study. The department provides several defined concentrations, described below. For all concentrations
except national/ transnational literatures, texts may be read in the original or in translation.
National/Transnational Literatures
These concentrations examine literature within the frameworks of particular languages or national and
regional traditions. National/transnational concentrations require that texts be read in the original
language.
English-Language Literatures
The study of American and British literature, as well as literatures of other English-speaking peoples
around the world.
French literature
The study of French and Francophone literatures, languages, and cultural practices of France, Africa,
and the Caribbean.
German literature
The study of the literature, language, and cultural practices of the German-speaking areas of central
Europe including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Greek and Latin literatures
The study of the literature, languages, and cultural practices of ancient Greece and Rome. Students
may choose to concentrate in Greek or Latin or both.
Italian literature
The study of Italian literature, language, and cultural practices from the Middle Ages to the present.
Spanish/Latin American/Latino literatures
The study of literatures, language, and cultural practices of Spain, Latin America, and Latino
populations in the United States.
Creative Writing
The Department of Literature offers a sequence of workshops from introductory through advanced levels
in both poetry and fiction. Other activities available to interested students include participation in the
production of literary journals on campus, attendance at readings by visiting writers, and use of a creative
writing reading room.
Admission to this concentration is selective. Interested students are required to take one lower-division
creative writing workshop at UCSC before applying to the creative writing concentration; however,
students are strongly encouraged to complete two lower-division workshops (at least one at UCSC)
before applying.
Students accepted into the concentration must complete three advanced writing workshops and a senior
project (e.g., a group of stories, a significant portion of a novel, a collection of poems). To apply for
admission to the creative writing concentration, students should submit a completed application form
(available at the Literature Department office) and a thoughtful selection from their work (8–10 pages of
poetry or fiction). Once accepted into the concentration, students are required to declare (or redeclare) the
major in literature. At that time, students should meet with their adviser to discuss plans for a senior
project.
Pre- and Early Modern Studies
The interdisciplinary study of literatures and cultures from antiquity through the early eighteenth century,
especially in Europe. This concentration includes the study of popular culture and everyday life as well as
readings in masterpieces of classical, medieval, early modern (Renaissance), and neo-classical literature.
Modern Literary Studies
The study of literature of the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. This
concentration examines ways in which modernity in general and literary modernism and postmodernism
in particular emerge and develop in different countries and cultures.
World Literature and Cultural Studies
The study of literature and cultural production both within a global context and within specific histories
and economies. Courses move beyond the literary text to include nonverbal forms of representation such
as social movements and everyday life practices.

Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement

Students of every major must satisfy that major's upper-division Disciplinary Communication (DC)
requirement. The DC requirement will normally be met within one to three courses already required for
the major. For detailed information on this major's DC requirement, consult your major adviser or see the
2010-11 general catalog.

Comprehensive Requirement
Students must successfully complete Literature 101 before taking any comprehensive requirement.
Seniors may must select one of the following options to satisfy the campus exit requirement:
Senior seminar. The senior seminar may be counted as one of the required upper-division courses. The
senior seminar need not be in the student’s area of concentration. Several senior seminars are offered
each quarter; extensive writing is required in all seminars.
Senior thesis. A student who wishes to propose a senior thesis (30–40 pages) must apply to a Literature
Department faculty sponsor at least two quarters before the projected date of graduation. The
application must include a proposed subject, a brief outline, a bibliography, and a sample of previous
written work. Only those students who have received written permission from a faculty supervisor
may complete a thesis to satisfy the senior exit requirement. A student whose application has been
approved may receive course credit toward the major for one independent study (course 195) in a
literature concentration.
For students in the creative writing concentration, a creative writing project under the supervision of a
faculty member (Literature/Creative Writing 194 or 195) is required. Students must successfully complete
Literature 101 before taking any comprehensive requirement.
The Literature Minor
The minor in literature requires seven courses.
Two lower-division courses are required:
• Literature 1, Literary Interpretation: close reading and analysis of literary texts
• One Literature 61-series course: categories, methodologies, and problems of literary study, or
one Literature 80-series course: topical, thematic, and comparative studies of literary texts
Five upper-division courses are required:
• Literature 101, Theory and Interpretation
• Four other upper-division literature courses (except Creative Writing)
The Literature minor does not require second-language proficiency or a senior seminar.

General Information
Transfer credit. A student may petition to receive credit toward the lower-division requirements of the
major or minor for up to two courses taken at other institutions. An introduction to literature course may
be used to satisfy the Literature 1 course requirement. Any other literature course may be applied toward
the Literature 61 or the Literature 80 course requirement.
Transfer students planning to major in literature are urged to complete the equivalent of one year college-
level study of a language other than English before entering UCSC.
Creative writing courses. Any qualified student may take creative writing courses for credit toward
graduation. Only students accepted into the creative writing concentration, however, may use
Literature/Creative Writing 180, 183, 194, and 195 to satisfy major requirements.
Declaring the major. Students declare a major in literature by completing and submitting a Proposed
Study Plan and Declaration of Major/Minor petition. All students considering a literature major should
consult with staff and/or faculty advisers as early as possible and declare the major before the end of their
sophomore year. Transfer students are urged to declare the major in the first quarter at UCSC. Students
must complete Literature 1 or its equivalent prior to declaring the major.
Double major. A student studying literature as part of a double major must fulfill all of the requirements
for any concentration in the literature major in addition to all of the requirements in another major field.
No course may be counted toward both majors.
The literature minor. The minor in literature comprises eight courses:
three lower-division required courses (including Literature 1 or its equivalent; see major requirements
above);
Literature 101, Theory and Interpretation;
four other upper-division literature courses.
Transfer credit. A student may petition to receive credit toward the lower-division requirements of the
major for up to three courses taken at other institutions. An introduction to literature course may be used
to satisfy the Literature 1 course requirement. Any other two literature courses may be applied toward the
Literature 61 series and the Literature 80 series course requirements. Transfer of Credit petition forms are
available in the Literature Department office.
Credit for repeated courses. Courses that vary significantly in material or methodology from one
presentation to the next may be repeated for credit and are so designated in the course description in the
UCSC General Catalog.
Advising. Faculty advisers are available in the Literature Department office throughout the week during
each academic term; students may make appointments in advance to meet with them. Staff advisers are
also available by appointment and on a drop-in basis. Students are encouraged to consult with a faculty
adviser once a quarter.
Senior checklist. Three quarters before anticipated graduation, all literature majors must complete a
checklist in collaboration with a department adviser. The purpose of the checklist is to confirm progress
toward graduation and the satisfaction of all major requirements. Completion and approval of a senior
checklist are required for graduation.
Opportunities for study abroad. The University of California’s Education Abroad Program (EAP)
operates study centers in countries throughout the world, all associated with host institutions of high
academic standing. EAP serves over 1500 upper-division students from the nine UC campuses every year.
Students who participate in a UC Education Abroad Program study year may petition to apply up to three
upper-division courses from EAP toward the literature major, or two upper-division courses toward the
literature majorminor. Petition forms are available in the department office.
Latin American and Latino Studies and Literature combined major. The departments of Latin American
and Latino Studies and Literature offer a combined major. See Latin American and Latino Studies for
additional information.

The Graduate Programs

The Doctoral Program
The UCSC doctoral program in Literature offers an innovative multidisciplinary approach to literary
studies under the auspices of the Department of Literature. While the program affords a coherent
academic experience for all students, the final choice of programmatic emphasis and a trajectory of
concerns is decided by each individual. Because the program is relatively small, students are able to work
closely with faculty throughout their graduate careers and are encouraged to take advantage of the rich
array of events, research clusters, and lectures offered on campus.
The doctoral program reflects wide-ranging faculty interests in American, Asia/Pacific, and New World
studies; world literature and cultural studies; European literature from the classical to the early modern
period (pre- and early modern studies); eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century literatures; gender
and sexuality studies; post-colonial and emergent literatures; and textual studies. interdisciplinary study
organized by area formations (literatures of the Americas, Asia/Pacific, Colonial Atlantic, European
Studies, Mediterranean Studies); by approaches and historical categories (classics, world literature and
cultural studies, pre- and early modern studies, modern literary studies); and by generic and thematic
categories, such as gender and sexuality studies; race; post-colonial and emergent literatures; poetry and
poetics; the novel; and textual studies. Students may elect to participate in cooperative programs between
literature and feminist studies, Latin American and Latino studies, or American studies and receive a
designated emphasis in the form of a parenthetical notation on their doctoral degree.
Among the areas that represent special strength in the department are contemporary American literature
and poetics; Latin American/Latino literature; literatures of the Americas, a cross-border hemispheric
perspective that envisions the Americas as an area of study; world literature and cultural studies, which
treats literary, intellectual, and cultural production in globally historicized contexts; nineteenth-century
studies; and pre- and early modern studies, where comparative and interdisciplinary work is encouraged
and which includes classical literature and philosophy, medieval and Renaissance French, Italian, and
English cultures and literatures (including visual culture), and Spanish Golden Age literature. Within all
areas, faculty draw on cutting-edge critical practices such as feminism, race and gender studies, Marxism,
postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis, queer theory, and cultural studies.
The program requires significant literary work in two languages. All students are required to complete a
minimum of two courses , preferably three, in a second-language literature in which the reading is done in
the original language. The second literature must serve as a component of the qualifying examination. that
certifies the student’s readiness to begin writing the dissertation. Primary concentrations are available in
English/American, French, and Spanish/Latin American/Latino literatures. Secondary concentrations are
available in all of the above, plus German, Italian, Latin, and Greek, as well as other non-English
literatures relevant to developing comparative frameworks and individual areas of concentration.
The common requirements are as follows:
a one-quarter proseminar, Literature 200, to be taken in the first year;
quarterly two-credit advising courses (independent studies);
twelve 12 courses leading to the definition of an area of concentration. At least two courses must be in a
second-language literature; at least one must focus on pre-1750 literature and culture. Uup to four
courses may be taken in other departments; up to three may be independent studies p to four may be
from the offerings of other departments; up to three may be independent study courses; and one course
must focus on pre-1750 literature and culture;
teaching assistant training, administered as a course offered by the Literature Department;
three quarters of supervised teaching experience;
a three-week summer intensive language course or equivalent, administered by the Literature Department;
one two-credit advising course per quarter;
teaching assistant training, administered as a course offered by the Literature Department;
three quarters of supervised teaching experience;
the Literature Department’s Graduate Summer Language Program (an intensive three-week course) or
equivalent;
a qualifying examination (with written and oral components);
a prospectus outlining and defining the dissertation project;
a dissertation.
A master’s degree is conferred upon request to Ph.D. candidates who have completed the course work
requirements required for the doctorate. (The teaching assistant training and supervised teaching
experience are not considered part of the course work requirementsrequired for the M.A.) In addition to
completing the required course work, students must write a master’s thesis under the supervision of a
faculty adviser or successfully complete the Literature Ph.D. Qualifying Exam.
Applications and requirements for obtaining these notations are available at the respective program and
department offices. More detailed information for prospective graduate students, including application and
admission to graduate studies, examinations, and requirements for the doctor of philosophy degree, is
available from the Division of Graduate Studies and on the department web site:
http://literature.ucsc.edu/.
The Master’s Program
A separate master of arts degree program in literature is intended for students whose aim is to deepen and
expand their literary/critical training and to proceed to a Ph.D. program at another institution. Priority for
admission is given to students interested in underrepresented areas of study within the Literature
Department’s offerings, such as the non-English language literatures and, more broadly, critical theory.
The M.A. program requires students to complete the equivalent of nine seminars of graduate-level
study in literature, including a written capstone requirement, the master’s thesis. Requirements may not be
completed in less than one year; the maximum time to obtain a degree is two years.
The common requirements are as follows:
a one-quarter proseminar, Literature 200, a one-quarter proseminar to be taken in the first year;
seven courses leading to the definition of an area of concentration. Up to two courses may be taken in
from the offerings of other departments, and one may be an independent study course;
a thesis (written in conjunction with Literature 299, Thesis Research). Typically, a thesis will range in
length from 3035–35 50 pages, plus a bibliography.
The Literature Department does not normally provide financial support to students pursuing the M.A.
degree; some teaching assistantships do, however, sometimes become available. Admission to the M.A.
program does not constitute admission to the Ph.D. program, nor mayand students may not automatically
transfer into the Ph.D. program from the M.A. program; they must reapply. Further information and
application materials are available from the Division of Graduate Studies: http://graddiv.ucsc.edu.