UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS IN
Why Study Comparative Literature and Languages
Comparative Literature and Languages invites you to explore how stories travel across languages, borders, and centuries. You’ll study epic, drama, poetry, narrative to understand how ideas evolve and literature continues to shape how we see ourselves and one another in a global landscape. The program challenges you to think analytically about art:reading deeply; writing with purpose; and connecting art, politics, and history in original ways.
Whether you dream of becoming a novelist, translator, editor, educator, or of entering professions like law or business, you’ll graduate ready to make your mark. You’ll be proficient in more than one language, see the world in more than one way, and be equipped with the expressive skills to create your future with confidence. With New York City’s theaters, museums, and literary scene just a train ride away, Hofstra is the perfect place to study how language moves the world.
Expand Your Voice
Study the world’s stories, sharpen your writing, and build the cross-cultural fluency employers value.
Apply NowDegrees & Programs
Students pursuing a degree in Comparative Literature and Languages are required to complete coursework in at least two foreign languages. In addition to studying languages, students take courses in the literature and cultures of Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, and ancient Greece and Rome, Because Comparative Literature and Languages is an interdisciplinary course of study, students may take two courses in another discipline—including anthropology, art history, drama, history, music, philosophy, religion, and sociology—that intersect with the traditions of world literature.
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES & PROGRAMS
BA in Comparative Literature and Languages Minor in Comparative Literature Minor in World LiteratureCareer Path & Outcomes
By the time they graduate from the program, Hofstra students are effective writers and researchers and skilled presenters. They have fine-tuned their grammatical and syntactical precision and are well versed in literary history, theory, and criticism; the process and theory of translation; and textual analysis. They are ready to move into the competitive world of work or an advanced studies program.
Our graduates may be found working as:
- Educators
- Government analysts
- Journalists
- Language translators and interpreters
- Lawyers
- Research assistants
- Publishing executives
Some graduates find employment overseas working for American-based companies.
Many of our graduates have pursued advanced studies in classics, japanese, education, law, and medicine at distinguished institutions such as:
- Harvard University
- Hofstra University
- State University of New York at Stony Brook
- University of Hawaii
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Vermont Law and Graduate School
100%
Recent graduates reported being employed or pursuing an advanced degree within one year after graduation
80%
Employed graduates secured a position within three months after graduation
$56K
Mean annual salary reported of 2022-2023 graduates within one year of graduation
Related Subjects
Contact Us
Office Information
Department of Comparative Literature, Languages, and Linguistics
Room 322 Calkins Hall
Office hours:
Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Department Chair
John Krapp
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
Room 312C Calkins Hall
Explore a major that connects literature, culture, and critical thinking and prepares you to thrive anywhere ideas matter.