Peer Advisors

Comp Lit Peer Advisors

Comp lit is one of the best, most challenging, and most supportive concentrations on campus. I love it as both a field of study and as a community. Feel free to contact any one of our peer advisors for more information on what it’s like to concentrate in Comparative Literature. They can also invite you for a coffee chat on us.

Larissa Barth

Why CompLit?

I chose CompLit because I wanted to study literature without confining myself to one language. The concentration also offers the freedom to study virtually anything in the humanities (and beyond), allowing me to draw connections between philosophy and literature. The tutorials each semester provide structured and individualized support to explore academic interests and prepare for the senior thesis, which has been invaluable as I plan to pursue a career in academia.

Senior,

Adams House, larissa_barth AT college

Languages: German, Japanese, Latin
Tutorial interest: I am interested in how literature that thematizes liminality and ambiguity, particularly surrealist and magic realist fiction, requires the reader to play an active role in creating the text. Other themes I am curious about include metafiction, the depiction of consciousness and reality, and the deconstruction of language.

Jackie Chen

Why CompLit?

As someone whose literary interests span millennia, languages, and genres, CompLit does not restrict my focus and instead allows me to explore all of them in connection with one another. The highly individualized, tailored support provided by CompLit’s tutorials ensures my interests remain at the forefront of my studies, and there are plenty of opportunities to dive deeper through seminars in various humanities departments (which count for CompLit concentration credit!).

Junior,

Kirkland House, jackiechen AT college

Languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, Chinese
Tutorial interest: comparing classical epic poetry and ethnographic fiction to post-1800s English literature within the maritime and espionage genres, navigating their intersection through the lens of epistemology, sovereignty in statecraft, and heightened consciousness towards both identity and cover

Ričards Umbraško

Why CompLit?

Comp Lit is one of the most flexible concentrations at Harvard. You get to cross borders – literary, cultural, or theoretical – in every class taken in the department. I came to Comp Lit because I wished to work more in Eastern European literatures, particularly those that are less known, explored, and translated in the Western academe – but I stayed because of the community. If you want to satisfy your intellectual curiosity while being surrounded by fellow students, faculty members, and tutors from all over the world who work across a wide range of languages and traditions, Comp Lit is the place to be.

Senior,

Dunster House, rumbrasko AT college

Languages: Latvian and Russian
Tutorial interest: I work in Latvian and Russian, exploring how post-Soviet borderlands complicate notions of belonging, identity, time, space, and memory in texts emerging on the frontiers of the former Soviet Union. I am also interested in the theoretical tools that decolonial theory offers for literary studies and literary anthropology. Additionally, I am curious to explore how representations of Eastern Europe in Western popular culture reflect the anxieties of our time surrounding race, sexuality, and gender.