Comparative Literature PhD vs. National Literature PhD

[Glasperlenspieler]

I know variations of this question have been asked a number of times on these boards. I think I've real all the relevant threads but I'm not sure if I've gotten any closer to answering the question for my situation. So I figured I'd give it a go. 

 

I'm try to weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of applying a comparative literature department as opposed to a national literature department (German in my case). For some of the universities I'm looking at I've already made my decision one way or another based on peculiar features of the departments, but for others I feel like I could go either way, partly because my POIs would remain largely the same in either case. 

 

I like the interdisciplinary opportunities available in a comparative literature department and my language skills should be sufficient to be a competitive applicant. A lot of my worries come down to job opportunities afterwards. I know that comparative literature PhDs are sometimes seen as not having a real home department and hence can have a tough time on the job market because they don't really fit anywhere and there aren't that many comparative literature departments beyond the elite universities. At the same time, the job prospects for German are not particularly bright, probably worse than for the humanities in general. Furthermore, on the assumption that the majority of my teaching career will be introductory level course, I think I'd rather teach 100-level literature courses than 100-level language courses, but that's not necessarily decisive for me.

 

My thought was that in a comparative literature department, if I were to thoughtfully choose my coursework, orals, and dissertation topic (focusing on English and German language modernist novels, for example), then I could potentially compete for the few jobs there in comp lit, as well as jobs in German or English departments. Thus, done right, a PhD in comparative literature could actually allow for more job opportunities than one in a national literature. Is this a realistic idea? Are there other factors I should be considering?

 

It would be helpful if comparative literature and German departments kept comprehensive placement records on their websites, but maybe that's asking too much.

[ExponentialDecay]

You are just as competitive for jobs in comparative literature departments with a national literature degree as you would be with a comparative literature degree. Source: look at the degrees of the professors who teach in the comp lit departments you are considering. Like with any interdisciplinary degree, you will be judged on your skillset, which means that, if you're a good enough German scholar, you will probably end up teaching 100 level language classes at a German department, and if you're not, you will probably be unemployed. There are very few comp lit departments out there, especially at teaching schools, and many of them will share faculty and courses with national lit departments rather than hire on their own staff.

I'm actually not sure that either comparative literature or a national literature is the more practical option, especially if we're talking an impacted language like German or Russian. I mean, dude, whatever you choose, you'll still end up with a literature degree. I think your decision is better guided here by the strength of the programs you get into, the funding they give you, and your research focus. If you actually want to do research on German and English modernism or anything else that would fit in in a comp lit department, go for it, but if you're just throwing the English modernism in there because you think it'll get you a job at the end, I wouldn't bother.