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Department History | Department of Comparative Literature

complit.yale.edu · 512 words · saved by 1 readers

The Department of Comparative Literature at Yale has distinguished origins. René Wellek founded Comparative Literature at Yale in 1947 and continued to head it for the next fifteen years, first as director of its Ph.D granting program, then as chair when it became a department in 1960. Erich Auerbach joined the program in 1950, William Wimsatt in the following year. These three eminent comparatists formed the backbone of the department and defined its identity in the 1950s and beyond: Auerbach and Wellek offered courses on the history of criticism, Wimsatt on literary theory. In 1961, Thomas M. Greene and Peter Demetz joined the small department. It began to expand at the beginning of the next decade, first with the addition in 1970 of Geoffrey Hartman and A. Bartlett Giamatti (who would leave the department to become President of Yale in 1978), and then of Paul de Man in 1971, the same academic year in which Wellek retired. For the next twelve years until his death in 1984, the depar

Department History | Department of Comparative Literature Skip to main content Show all breadcrumbs About Department History The Department of Comparative Literature at Yale has distinguished origins. René Wellek founded Comparative Literature at Yale in 1947 and continued to head it for the next fifteen years, first as director of its Ph.D granting program, then as chair when it became a department in 1960. Erich Auerbach joined the program in 1950, William Wimsatt in the following year. These three eminent comparatists formed the backbone of the department and defined its identity in the 195

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