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Comparative Canadian Literature

Increase understanding of and research about literary, sociocultural, and political relations between cultures and languages

Campus, University de Sherbrooke

Since its establishment as a discipline in the 19th century, comparative literature has helped to broaden perspectives on the mutual influences of cultural productions from various backgrounds.

For students and professors, comparing cultures and literatures addresses a desire—and a need—in today’s context of globalization and disappearing borders. It enables reflection on and the questioning of national points of view, leading to an examination of the cultural dimensions of various contexts, issues, and power relationships through literary analysis.

Why should you choose this domain?

  • Go beyond the limits of traditional fields of study
  • Explore differences
  • Formulate problems
  • Compare cultures
  • Question traditional paradigms

Particular language requirements

The bilingual nature of the CCL programs is primordial. The program’s faculty members are all bilingual, if not trilingual. Students may present their oral and written work in either French or English; they must nevertheless be able to read literature and theory in both languages.

Research

Sherbrooke's professors are very active in comparative literature research.

Faculty Members

The teachers offer personalized guidance to promote the academic success.

Undergraduate Program

B.A. in English and Intercultural Studies prepares students for the MA in Comparative Literature.

Discovering Comparative Literature

The Université de Sherbrooke has been offering bilingual programs in Comparative Canadian Literature (CCL) in its Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines for almost half a century. These programs are recognized as the only ones in the world to offer studies devoted to comparative Canadian and Québécois literature and culture. Moreover, given sociocultural and theoretical changes in the humanities in recent decades, one of the ways these evolving programs have stayed relevant is by promoting comparative studies with contexts beyond the borders of Canada and Québec.

Since its creation, the objective of the master’s program was to offer studies in Canadian and Québécois literatures from a comparative standpoint. A doctoral program was added later. Both programs are lauded in the field of comparative studies thanks to the unique academic life offered at the Université de Sherbrooke, where an English studies sector is responsible for overseeing comparative literature within a predominantly Francophone context.

The educational objectives of these studies have expanded over time. Today, they encompass the exploration and analysis of Canadian and Québécois literatures through the formulation of problems that relate them to other literatures, contexts, disciplines, and theoretical approaches such as cultural, feminist, postcolonial, and translation studies. Comparative Canadian Literature as a discipline has undergone numerous transformations; essentially bicultural studies have become more multicultural, comparisons have become more transnational, studies based on established works have tended to be supplanted by cultural studies, and literary translation has come to be seen as an act of creation in its own right.

In keeping with a society undergoing massive change, the CCL programs give rise to many research subjects distinguished as much by their approaches as by their content: gender studies, theatre, poetry, memoir writing, criticism, literary publishing, native and minority literature, and eco-criticism, as well as postcolonial, intercultural, feminist, and cultural studies.

The collective expertise of the programs’ current professors qualifies them to supervise research on the following themes and approaches:

  • Dramatic art, intertextuality, film, and literature
  • Cultural theory and cultural studies
  • Postcolonial, native, and minority literature
  • Gender, feminism(s), and class
  • North American and Pan-American studies
  • Literary translation, translation studies, and comparative stylistics
  • Linguistic and literary aspects of English in Quebec
  • Literature and language instruction

Masters students have to defend their proposed Master's project before a jury. Doctoral students must complete a comprehensive examination in the discipline of Comparative Canadian Literature, as well as defend their thesis before a jury.

A number of seminars are offered to master's and doctoral students in CCL, including: La théorie de la littérature canadienne comparée, La critique canadienne comparée, Approches théoriques de la traduction, La dramaturgie canadienne comparée, Approches interdisciplinaires en études littéraires (I & II), La poésie canadienne comparée (I & II), and Le roman canadien comparé (I & II). Students may also take tutorial courses adapted to their research interests.

After having attended the required seminars, students propose and defend a research subject, all the while working closely with their research supervisor (depending on the project, co-supervision across disciplines is possible). Master’s students are not required to defend a thesis; however, they may choose to do so upon request.

Studies in CCL have often contributed to facilitating intercultural dialogue in the Canadian and Québécois contexts. It goes without saying that globalization has given rise to new migration and cultural interaction models, thus transforming intercultural relationships in unprecedented ways, even within seemingly isolated cultures. Graduate programs with an interdisciplinary dimension—such as those in CCL—are increasingly prized for their ability to enable examination of the way cultures are constructed (at the global, national, and local levels) as well as their cultural interactions. They can also contribute to defining the stakes inherent in such issues. Hence, current approaches in Comparative Canadian Literature as conceived at the Université de Sherbrooke emphasize interdisciplinarity, the use of various theoretical frames to analyze texts (feminisms, native studies, cultural studies, postcolonialism, etc.), and the critical comparison of literary works with other forms of cultural production, such as oral narratives and televisual, cinematographic, and multimedia works.

Students undertaking graduate studies in Comparative Canadian Literature have access to a variety of resources to support their academic progress:

Faculty

The teachers in the Comparative Canadian Literature programs know their students well and offer personalized guidance to promote their academic success. A number of professors from the programs in Études littéraires et culturelles, Communications, and Linguistiques also regularly sit on thesis juries in the CCL programs (CCL professors likewise do the same for other disciplines), thus opening up possibilities for networking and collaboration.

Electronic Mailing List

Students who sign up for the mailing list become members of a professional network in the field of comparative literature. They can thus keep up to date on news concerning their program and other comparative literature programs, be notified of calls for papers, and learn about position openings, student bursaries, and recent publications in the discipline. The mailing list thus also greatly facilitates exchanges between students in the CCL programs.

Professional Workshops

Professional workshops feature discussions and round-table meetings hosted by CCL professors, as well as various other Université de Sherbrooke resource persons. These workshops, which complement program seminars and activities, enhance students’ professional training and facilitate the transition to the job market. Workshop themes may be added or removed from year to year depending on suggestions and needs.

Workshop subjects include:

  • The reference tools and databases of the university’s Bibliothèque des sciences humaines that can be useful to students of comparative literature;
  • The documents and reference tools of the Centre Anne-Hébert;
  • The style manual (Guide de rédaction et de présentation) for assignments as well as master’s and doctoral theses;
  • Detailed procedures for writing master’s and doctoral theses;
  • Preparing a literature review for research examinations and projects;
  • Submitting a proposition in answer to a call for papers and making a seminar presentation;
  • Writing a resume when applying for teaching positions and other postings;
  • The world of work and preparing for a job interview.

Since the year 2000 graduate students in CCL have organized several conferences that attract a number of graduate students from other Canadian and foreign universities, as well as internationally renowned researchers. In addition to promoting communication and collaboration, these conferences provide students in CCL at the Université de Sherbrooke with an outstanding opportunity to share and disseminate their research. Helping to organize a symposium, publishing its proceedings, and making presentations all constitute unparalleled avenues for learning and acquiring practical professional experience.

Upon completing a master's degree in Comparative Canadian Literature, many graduates work in a language- or culture-related profession such as translation, writing, or revision for government or cultural organizations, either locally or abroad. Others teach at the CEGEP or university level. Moreover, the enrolment rate is high for graduates of the master’s program applying to prestigious doctoral programs.

Upon completing a doctoral degree in Comparative Canadian Literature,graduates may consider a career as a teacher at the CEGEP or university level. Many graduates have in fact secured prestigious positions as teachers at various universities (including the university of Toronto, Moncton, Sherbrooke, Québec à Trois-Rivières, McGill, Concordia, and Laval).

The master’s program in Comparative Canadian Literature was founded by Ronald Sutherland(Second Image, 1971; The New Hero,1977) in 1963 and shortly thereafter benefited from the collaboration of Doug Jones (Butterfly on Rock, 1971). The doctoral program was founded in 1978. Both programs were further advanced and supported over the years by the expertise of renowned professors in the discipline such as Larry Shouldice (Contemporary Quebec Criticism, 1979) and Avrum Malus (The Face of Holiness in the Writing of Leonard Cohen, 1975).