Literature
http://www.duke.edu/literature/
General Information
Degree offered: Ph.D., JD/MA (Note: Applicants interested in the JD/MA will make application to the Law School rather than to the Graduate School.)
Faculty working with students:
24
Students:
51
Students receiving Financial Aid:
90%
Deadline for Fall 2008 Application: December 15 (priority deadline)
Spring Application:
no
Part time study available:
no
Test required:
GRE General
Program Description
The Literature Program is not comparatist in the traditional sense but theoretical in focus, dedicated to the understanding of cultural history and the reshaping of literary studies in the context of contemporary thought. The program acknowledges the challenges posed by the emergence of non-Western literatures and also by the increasing importance of non-canonical, "marginal" or oppositional cultures within the West. Working with a wide range of contemporary theories or approaches -- feminism, Marxism, cultural criticism, discourse analysis, reader-response theory, the analysis of power and of the social function of ritual and symbolic action -- the Graduate Program in Literature stresses the historicity of such discourses, and of the cultural phenomena they set out to investigate. Our courses also register the increasing significance in the academy of theoretical developments in cultural theory and film theory, as well as other media such as art and architecture. We also explore the connections between literary study and innovations in other disciplines -- anthropology, psychoanalysis, linguistics, art history, religious studies, the history and philosophy of science, law -- which already share some of literature's investment in narrativity, structure, communication, and interpretation.
Other Requirements
The submission of a writing sample (nonreturnable, limited to fewer than 15 pages) is required. It should be a photocopy of an essay (nonfiction), preferably a critical or scholarly essay submitted as an academic requirement in a course in literature. Writing sample should be sent directly to the Literature Program (not the Graduate Enrollment Services Office--this is the only exception to the general rule that all documents that are a part of an application must be sent to the Graduate Enrollment Services Office).