UGC Undergraduate Syllabus for Comparative Literature
Comparative Literature Honours Course: 140 Credits
Semester I ( 2 Core Courses 6 credits each + 2 Electives 4 credits each = 20 credits)
Course Core course (each course 6 Credits)
No.
1 a Literary Terms and Tools I
such as: literariness, text, metaphor, image,
symbol, fiction, author, reader, theme, plot,
kavya, rasa
b Frames of Comparison: Retelling the
Ramakatha/Mahabharata:
Ramcaritmanas/ Kamban Ramayana
Ramayana Stories ed. Paula Richman
Nabaneeta Dev Sen Immortality Trap, Ur
Ramayana; Or Shakuntalapakhyan from
Mahabharata, Abhigyanshakuntalam
Kalidasa Apsara Ki Shap Yashpal, An
Afternoon with Shakuntala Vaidehi,
Shakuntala Sisir Kumar Das, (Other
Shakuntala Narratives/Stories available in local
languages)
2 Frames of Comparison: Narrative: selections
from: Odyssey, Ramayana, Silappadikaram,
Firdausi: Shahnamah, Journey to the West
Recommended reading:
Comparative Poetics: Earl Miner
Exile and Kingdom : Some Thoughts on Ramayana Romila Thapar
Ramayana Stories in Modern South India ed Paula Richman
Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia ed. Paula Richman
2 Electives (each course 4 Credits) Total
Credits
i) Retellings of Epic Literature 20
[different re-tellings of Ramayana,
Odyssey, Shahnamah, etc
ii) Orality and Literature:
Story-telling traditions to print
culture to illustrate the
overlapping of the oral and
written literary traditions for
example ijala tradition and Forest
of a Thousand Daemons,
adaptations of oral tales by Amos
Tutuola.
iii) Romance: Changing concept of
the hero-heroine Archetypes &
Stereotypes.
eg: Vis o Ramin; Tristan and
Isolde; Premakhyan;
Contemporary examples.
iv) Narratives of the Self
v) Indian language and literature
1 recommended that as per
available resources an Indian
language is taught through 6
semesters
Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition- ed. Paula Richman
Literacy and Orality: Studies in the Technology of Communication Ruth Finnegan
The Theory of Oral Composition John Miles Foley
The Interface between the Written and the Oral Jack Goody
Orality and Literacy The Technologizing of the Word Walter Ong

Semester II ( 2 Core Courses 6 credits each + 3 Electives 4 credits each = 24 credits)

Course Core course (each course 6 Credits)
No.
3 Comparative Literature : Definition, Scope and v) Early Indian Novels:
Method
The course will cover: 1) Comparative
Literature in the World; 2) Comparative
Literature in India selected essays; 3)
Weltliteratur/World Literature and Visva
Sahitya
3 Electives (each course 4 Credits) Total
Credits
24
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay:
Durgeshnandini; Fakir Mohan
Senapati:Chha Mana Atha Guntha
Chandu Menon Indulekha;
Govardhanram Madhavaram
Tripathi: Saraswatichandra
Or, any 19th century novel in an
Indian language

vi) Realism in Indian Novels:

Premchand: Karmbhumi; Tagore :
Chaturanga; Gopinath Mohanty:
Dadibura; Phanishwar Nath Renu:
Maila Anchal; Rahi Masoom Reza:
Aadha Gaon; Chalam: Maidanam

4 Frames of Comparison: vii) Short story as a form:

Narrative Traditions: Indian, Asian, African Selections from the world Eg.
Selections from Jatakas/Somadevas Chekhov, Maupassant, Poe, etc
Kathasaritsagar/Vishnu Sharmas
Panchatantra/Arabian Nights/ Kalila wa
Dimnah/ Chinua Achebe Things fall apart

To illustrate concepts such as: Synchrony, viii) Short story in India:

Diachrony,Reception/Hospitality/Appropriation Rabindranath, Premchand, Manto,
, Emplotment, Dominant, Emergent, Residual, Basheer, Pudumaiputtan, Volga,
Structure of feeling, Horizon of Expectation. Jayakantan, Thakkazhi,
Mahasweta Devi, Temsula Ao,

ix) Magic Realism theory and

texts
x) Translation Studies
xi) Indian language & literature 2
Recommended reading:
The Idea of Comparative Literature in India Amiya Dev
Comparative Literature: Theory and Practice eds. Amiya Dev and Sisir Kumar Das
Comparative Literature: Theory and Method. Steven Totosy de Zepetnek
Realism and Reality Meenakshi Mukherjee
Early Novels in India Meenakshi Mukherjee
A History of Indian Literature1800 1910 Western Impact: Indian Response Sisir Kumar Das
A History of Indian Literature1911 1956 Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy Sisir Kumar Das
Indias Literary History eds. Stuart Blackburn & Vasudha Dalmiya
In Another Country: Colonialism, Culture and the English Novel in India Priya Joshi
The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of the Self under Colonialism Ashis Nandy
Masks of Conquest Literary Study and British Rule in India Gauri Viswanathan

Semester III ( 2 Core Courses 6 credits each + 3 Electives 4 credits each = 24 credits)

Course Core course (each course 6 Credits)
No.
5 Comparative Literature : New Directions
This course will cover in relation with
Comparative Literature: Comparative Cultural
Studies; Translation Studies; Current
Approaches to Comparative Literature
Electives (each course 4 Credits) Total
Credits
x) World Theatre: texts by Ibsen, 24
Chekov, Shaw, Beckett, Walcott,
Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta
xi) Reception of Shakespeare in
India/ Multimedial Shakespeare/
Shakespeare and world theatre

6 Frames of Comparison: xii) Theories of Drama: Western,

Drama I: Kalidasa: Abhijnan Shakuntalam, Indian, Others
Sudraka: Mrichhakatika, Sophocles: Oedipus
Rex, Moliere: Tartuffe; Shakespeare: Tempest
xiii) Theatre and Gender/Race/
Ethnicity: theory and texts
xiv) Regional Theatre/s in India
xv) Mythical Theatres:
Africa/Caribbean
xvi) Indian language& literature 3
Recommended reading:
Counterpoints Nabanita Dev Sen
Comparative Literature in the Multiculturalism ed. Charles Bernheimer
Companion to Comparative Literature, World Literatures and Comparative Cultural Studies eds. Steven
Totosy de Zepetnek and Tutun Mukherjee
Ganesh Devy Reader
Semester IV ( 2 Core courses 6 credits each + 3 Electives 4credits each = 24 credits)

Course Core course (each course 6 Credits) 2 Electives (each course 4 Credits) Total
No. Credits
7 Comparative Literary Practice: Structural xvii) Theatre of Protest 24
Formal and Thematic Migrations and Mutations
emphasizing Influence and Reception of texts
in different societies and cultures.
Eg. Kathasaritsagara texts; Shahnama;
Macbeth, Hamlet etc.
xviii) Performing Gender
8 Frames of Comparison: xix) Narratives of the Nation
Modern Indian Drama: Tagore: Red Oleanders,
Tendulkar: Silence! Court is in Session, Karnad:
Nagamandala, Dina Mehta: Brides are not for
Burning; Mahesh Dattani: Tara/ Final Solutions
xx) Womens writing
xxi) Literature from the Margins

xxii) Disabilities: Theory and texts

xxiii) Indian language& literature 4
Recommended reading:

Semester V ( 2 Core courses 6 credits each + 3 Electives 4 credits each = 24 credits)

Course Core course (each course 6 Credits) 2 Electives (each course 4 Credits) Total
No. Credits
9 Frames of Comparison: xxiv) Reception of Romanticism in 24
Poetry: Lyric as a form; Khandakavya; Sangam Indian Literature
poetry; Sonnet from Europe to India; Ghazal
from West Asia to the World; Bhakti poetry;
Sufi-Baul poetry
xxv) Modern and Post-modern
Trends in poetry
10 a Rise of Prose in India xvi) Literary Transactions: Colonial
& Postcolonial
b What is Literature. xvii) Popular lyric as literature
Critical concepts and tools 2 : Structuralism,
 Post-structuralism, Marxism, New Historicism,
Postcolonialism, Multiculturalism
xviii) Emergent Literatures
xix) Literatures of the Diaspora
xx) Indian language& literature 5
Recommended reading:
Mad Lover Sisir Kumar Das
Renewal of a Song- eds. Earl Miner & Amiya Dev
Mirabai and the Spiritual Economy on Bhakti Kumkum Sangari in EPW (July 1990)
Bhakti and the Bhakti Movement: a new perspective: a study in the history of Ideas Krishna Sharma
Dense Desolate Pathway: Routes of Bhakti in Medieval Indian Literature Swapan Majumdar in Jadavpur
Journal of Comparative Literature vol. 30 (1991-1992) ed. Amiya Dev
Sufisim An Account of the Mystics of Islam A.J. Arberry
Sufism: A brief History Sufyan bin Uzayr
Mystical Islam: An Introduction to Sufism Julian Baldick

Semester VI ( 2 Core courses + 3 Electives= 24 credits)

Course Core course (each course 6 Credits) Electives (each course 4 Credits) Total
No. Credits
11 Frames of Comparison: xxi) Literature and Film 24
Literature and Other Arts and Media
xxii) Creative Writing
12 Academic Writing: Report writing, Book review, xxiii) Media and Reception
Media Review, Copy editing
xxiv) Graphic Novels
xxv) Literature and Environment
xxvi) Project
xxvii) Indian language& literature6

Recommended reading: