Master's programme Comparative Literature

What literary and artistic phenomena result from the increasing interconnectedness of our world? What transformations do literary materials undergo in graphic, cinematic and digital adaptations? How can we think of the term "world literature" today? These questions are explored in the courses of the Master's programme in Comparative Literature.

The Master's programme in Comparative Literature at the University of Cologne is offered by the Junior Chair of Comparative Literature in cooperation with nine subjects of the Faculty of Humanities. This networking of different philologies and their language offerings is based on an understanding of Comparative Literature as a network-like structure of order and knowledge. Instead of dichotomous, hierarchically organised patterns of comparison, Comparative Literature promotes a rhizomatic interweaving of literatures, media and their cultures. It complements the academic primacy of scientific-rational thinking with its openness to those who think differently and to other ways of thinking. For this reason, the diverse range of university and non-university events in the cultural city of Cologne can also be incorporated into the programme.

Fast Facts

• Comparative work between languages, epochs, media and cultures

• Ten subjects of the Faculty of Arts involved

• Integration of cultural institutions outside of university

• Individual choice of subject focusses 

• Good supervision ratio

• Standard period of study: four semesters

• One-subject/two-subject Master's programme

• Next application deadline: presumably 01.06.2023 to 15.07.2023

• Application for summer and winter semester