Comparative Lit. or Philosophy? (PhD)

[bechkafish]

Naturally, two months away from application season, I'm starting to second-guess everything I thought I wanted to do and panic mercilessly.

Here's my general situation: I am finishing up an MA in Philosophy (with specific focus on 19th Century Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics). My plan is and has been to apply this season to PhD programs in philosophy, or at least those particularly well-ranked in 19th Century, since an aesthetics concentration hasn't gotten anyone a job in forever. I have a reading knowledge of German, and what I think is an uncommonly enthusiastic background in [European] literature. Obviously, philosophy isn't a perfect match for this, but it is what it is, and it's the field I've been committed to for years.

Now, of course, the proverbial wedding day is almost upon us and I'm getting cold feet. Academic philosophy seems to be trending away from what I care about, these days, and so much of what I've read online lately has made it seem like a comparative literature program would be a better fit. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I would feel like an absolute idiot mentioning this to my faculty advisors at this point, but all of my graduate work has trended towards it: papers on philosophy and Rilke, the value of memoir, gender in literature, etc. Outside of a philosophy and literature program like Warwick's, what are my options?

I'm worried I'm just sort of self-destructing and casting about for something other than philosophy so that I can avoid the competitive nightmare that is professional philosophy; I'm also worried that the exact opposite is happening and I'm going to get stuck in a PhD program that's not right for me.

[ExponentialDecay]

If I wanted to work on continental philosophy as an academic philosopher in the US, I would also be worried.

That said, a reading knowledge of German is insufficient language preparation for comparative literature programs. To be a comparatist, you essentially need to be as good as a specialist in a given national literature, but also have the ability to branch out into other literatures, especially the way the discipline is trending right now. You can do memoir and gender in literature or whatever you want in a straight English Lit program, which will take your reading knowledge of German and be happy with it (ps I am assuming you are at Tufts - are they really letting you get away with a mediocre level of preparation in just one foreign language?). I would also look at those interdisciplinary programs like at Berkeley and Brown that work with continental philosophy. But keep in mind that, when the time comes, your only leg to stand on will be the merit of your work, and as you said, nobody's gotten hired into aesthetics since forever. The only way you avoid the competitive nightmare as you put it is if you get out of academia.

[bechkafish]

That said, a reading knowledge of German is insufficient language preparation for comparative literature programs. To be a comparatist, you essentially need to be as good as a specialist in a given national literature, but also have the ability to branch out into other literatures, especially the way the discipline is trending right now. You can do memoir and gender in literature or whatever you want in a straight English Lit program, which will take your reading knowledge of German and be happy with it (ps I am assuming you are at Tufts - are they really letting you get away with a mediocre level of preparation in just one foreign language?).

I'm actually at BU, where foreign language profficiency isn't a component of the terminal masters. So I guess I had it in my head that it put me rather ahead of the curve, but I see what you're saying as a part of the bigger picture. 

[Appppplication]

Youre better off in complit. Language reqs vary from dept to dept,and you'll have time to learn another language if necessary after you start the PhD.