What should I prepare for a graduate degree in Comparative Literature

[York F]

Hi all,

  Here is my background. I have studied four years of translation (Chinese - English) for my undergraduate program and finally decided to focus on literature studies during my senior year. The only related literature courses I have taken are Literary Translation, Drama Translation, & Russian Literature. All three of them are introductory where I have learned some elementary stuffs about Halliday's linguistic models and literary theories & criticism. They are useful but I am not sure if they are that useful as well in Comparative Literature.

  As a matter of fact, I barely know about Comparative Literature. The reasons that I became interested in this subject are that I enjoy comparing literary works especially those from English culture, Russian Culture and Chinese culture, and that many scholars that I admire turn out to be from the Comparative Literature Department of different institutes. 

  I am going to study Comparative Lit next year in Britain. I would love to know which aspect does Comparative Literature focus on- whether it focuses on linguistics, literary theories & criticism, history, politics or so on (or does it covers all?)- so that I can further prepare myself for my graduate program in this subject. Luckily I would like to stick to this program for my PhD Love to hear different voices. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by York F