PhD in Comparative Literary Studies and Classics
At Northwestern, students admitted to the Comparative Literary Studies Ph.D. program have a second “home” in another department of their choice, with Classics serving as one of those possible homes. Students enrolled in the CLS/Classics doctoral track engage in a dialog between classical languages and literatures and the methodologies of comparative literature and classical reception studies; they are offered teaching assistant opportunities in both undergraduate programs; and they typically write a dissertation co-directed by a Classics faculty member and a faculty in another relevant department.
CLS/Classics students are key members of the Graduate Classics Cluster and in the course of their studies typically complete one or more of the optional Classics Graduate Certificates (Greek, Latin, and Classical Reception Studies). Upon completion of the doctoral program they receive their degree from Comparative Literary Studies, with a strong focus on Classics. Recent dissertations by CLS/ Classics students include projects on women’s rewritings of classical mythology in contemporary poetry and on classical influences during German Romanticism.