Origin=Goal

My last undergraduate quarter: Either (1) Introduction to Latin American Culture or 20th century Spanish (Iberian) Literary Movements. Probably the former. (2) Brazilian Literature, 19th-21st Century (in translation) (3) Either intermediate Portuguese or Advanced Portuguese Literature and Composition (The latter, if I'm feeling game) (4) Independent study to finish my honors thesis--then send in those apps @Bdon, I'd go for the Bildungsroman class (unless Early American includes Hawthorne, he's incredible)

Or at least look into precisely how it the term applies to your research. My understanding, having taken more than a few WS courses, is of Feminism (in this academic context) a mode of research (i.e. what you are going to look at qua "the humanities") and a category of critical-theoretical concepts necessitated by this research. If your precise about how intend to pursue feminist-informed research and will not, as eleanor hinted, let it lapse into a vaguely relevant, ideological component of your work, then no worries.

Well I generally have two variations of the same response, which correspond to the two ways this question is usually asked to my. For more out of the loop folks, who cannot relate to a purely "academic" response, I merely cite my love for literature of many cultures and traditions, languages, and teaching-- as well as the innovative way I can approach all three as a comparatist. If this stock response is either unsatisfactory, or if I'm getting one of the condescending interrogations from someone with an actually "important" field, I would begin: literature, but also other forms of the aesthetic (film, visual art, etc, both encompass and present solutions to real social problems and realities. Although there is, in my opinion, an inherent value in say, the images and rhetorical strategies used by a particular poem, formal properties of a work of art can, though in manifold, often asymmetrical ways, lead to profoundly political significance of the work of art, even simply in terms of representation, insofar as it is not just an image or person represented, but, whether the work likes it or knows it, the structures and movements of society as such; "literature provides the "ought" that will move us beyond the positivist given-- read a Critique of Judgmentor Aesthetic Theory!", I've been known to inveigh

Those are quick, but very fun reads; I think Cat's Cradle took me a night or two!

I honestly don't understand the problem here. If you are able to support the position you take on whatever your object of analysis is in a way that demonstrates adequate critical competence, writing abilities, and is in line with your stated research interest, then the purpose of the writing sample is fulfilled (at least in my understanding of the matter). I think that is much more important (in a practical sense) than speculatively tailoring your opinions to your preconceptions of what the committee will think (which, I imagine, will in any case rarely be encompassed by the "canonicity" problematic you seem so preoccupied with). "Trying to be controversial" and developing an innovative, if somewhat unconventional position (though I'm very skeptical that any opinion you take on, say, Daisy Miller would raise their eye brows such as to discount you from consideration!) are very different matters, in my opinion. But, like Sparky says, would you feel comfortable in a program that makes you have to hide your actual opinions on your work? My sample is essentially a trenchant defense on two VERY controversial figures in my field, but I don't feel compelled to pick a paper of lesser quality and less representative of my interests to skirt hypothetical controversy; actually, isn't that the very reason why such papers are written?

The obvious choice for me would be CUNY (I think they have an MA Geo program), where David Harvey teaches, since your interested in theory, land politics, etc would seem to align themselves with his research, which includes political economy and "Right to the city" politics. Ruthie Gillmore, an incredible economic geographer and social theorist, also teaches there.

Many, many comp lit programs can accommodate an interest in film studies-- I don't have a list off hand, but I know you can at your alma mater (NYU), for instance, though maybe not in the same official capacity, as at Cornell or Yale. Also, the Spanish and Portuguese program at my current Uni, UC Davis, is one of the strongest in the country. Based off of my experience with the faculty and grad students, I would strongly recommend considering it; I can verify that there are at lest two professors who specialize in detective fiction (this is actually a rather popular field). I'm actually just beginning Portuguese myself in the fall here.

I agree, my comment simply referred to the state of Comp Lit faculty appointments sui generis and more generally warned against applying to a program based on what we think the job situation is/will be like. A Comp Lit PhD who can teacher and publish in all three of their language areas (which fyi is by no means the norm, often times only the primary is up to that level) will of course be "more marketable" in a time when language departments (French one of the foremost) are in peril; the OP would however need to be dedicated to the rigorous research into three (or four, if English or American lit was also an interest) different languages and their greater cultural/literary tradition in a particular era. If this sounds beyond the breadth of what you want to do, Comp Lit may not be the right program, but theirs tons of alternatives besides "traditional" literary departments (which I'm again assuming this to mean Anglo and related literature): American Studies, Cultural Studies (pace UCD or Minnesota), Rhetoric programs, etc.

I'm in a similar position to the OP and can say with certainty that I have never gotten advice to do a masters in any humanities-related field (languages included), both in terms of funding and career practicality (assuming you want to continue in academics). Talk to any faculty you're on decent terms with, as well as any GSIs you're on good terms with, they've been through it already. Edit: While "Modernism" may be an imprecise interest (no less so than "Theory" as such), Pericles Lewis at Yale is one of the bigger Comp Lit names that deals with Modernism as a genre: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/about.php

From my interaction with Berkeley PhD candidates (in both Comp Lit and Rhetoric), I agree with the previous poster. Great CT-heavy program (though Prof. Butler is probably setting sail for Columbia). I'd also recommend the Cultural Studies program at Davis, which besides being one of the most renowned CS programs in the States, is an extremely interdisciplinary, malleable program with a tremendous faculty (though if teaching appointments are a concern, keep in mind that younger fields have weaker departmental support, which in the humanities is really saying something).

Good post. I've been told almost universally that you should let your fields of interest dictate what/where to study; if you're not experienced with/interested in literatures beyond the "traditional" (I'm guessing that the OP means English language lit here), there's no reason to pursue it. It sounds like you're interested in psychoanalytic theory, and if you're married to that idea I imagine that there are plenty of English (and Cultural or even American studies) departments that can accommodate this interest. I wouldn't let employment cache determine much, since, speaking for Comp Lit here (my field), the general academic employment situation is rather bleak: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,72948.0.html Unfortunately I love it anyway

Rainy-day, et al are probably right concerning the new test format, the emphasis on context, etc, but I have a pdf I made of some of the kaplan study cards, send a pm with your email if interested