Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. The MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation is a nine-month, interdisciplinary course designed to give you critical, theoretical and research expertise in the intersecting fields of comparative and world literature and translation studies. To take this course, you must be able to work with two languages and literatures, out of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, modern Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Turkish, and Urdu. If you are interested in studying two European languages comparatively, you may also wish to apply for the MSt in Modern Languages. The course is attached to Oxford’s research centre in Comparative Criticism and Translation (OCCT) and builds on the recent growth in scholarly awareness of the importance of translation to comparative and world literary study. This is what is meant by ‘critical translation’: not translator training, but rather an interest in the role played by translation and re-writing in literary history, and an alertness to the uses of translation in critical practice. You will be able to participate in the rich research culture of OCCT. This includes the lively postgraduate-led discussion group, regular research seminars and workshops, the public events of Oxford Translation Day, and lectures by the Weidenfeld Visiting Professor in Comparative European Literature (recent incumbents have included Javier Cercas, Ali Smith, Mario Vargas Llosa, Elif Shafak and Umberto Eco). The academic mentor and the graduate teaching assistant who are attached to the course will help you to orient yourself in the research culture of OCCT and the wider university; and you will present your dissertation work-in-progress at a seminar day organised jointly with the OCCT discussion group in Trinity term. You will also be able to attend seminars and other events from across the faculties of Medieval and Modern Languages, English Language and Literature, and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, thereby encountering a wide range of leading writers, critics, and theorists from within and beyond the University. If you wish, you may also choose to study another language at the Oxford University Language Centre. This opportunity is free of charge for students taking the MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation, though it is not an assessed part of your MSt course. For the full description, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas