History of Comparative World Literature

What we call CWL today was founded in 1965 as the Department of Comparative Literature by three outstanding members of CSULB’s English faculty who had degrees in comparative literature: Peter Carr, Tom Hubble, and August Coppola. 

founding fathers

Peter Carr had a strong background in French literature and an abiding interest in folklore and Indian literature and culture. He was a peace activist during the turbulent 60s and 70s and a poet and artist of note. CSULB’s Peace Studies Center was originally named for him.

Tom Hubble was also a francophile who enjoyed three Fulbright awards in Greece, Tunisia, and Zaire (Congo) during his career.

August Coppola was involved in film and literature like his brother Francis Ford Coppola and his son Nicholas Cage. Dr. Coppola also was the first director of the university Honors Program, he started the annual Comparative Literature conference, and he inaugurated genre journal. He invented the “weekend college” to accommodate working students, created a “touch museum” experience on campus, and was named the first outstanding professor at the university. Governor Jerry Brown appointed him as the first faculty member to be a CSU trustee. Dr. Coppola later left CSULB to be the Dean of the College of Arts at San Francisco State. 

the 60s

Roberta Markman (Mesoamerican mythology, folklore) joined the department in 1968, and Roland Bush (Caribbean literature, surrealism), a Comp Lit alum mentored by Coppola, joined in 1969. Raymond J. McKay, originally hired into the department of Foreign Languages, joined Comp Lit in 1968 before leaving to start the department of German, Classics and Eastern Languages (including Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Indic, Japanese, Russian, and Sanskrit) in 1970; McKay taught Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit courses for many years.

In the 60s the faculty established foundational comp lit courses, traditionally categorized by period and region, in addition to surveys and methodology courses. Major focuses were Classical literature, Medieval literature, and Continental literature, with one course on Oriental literature, which became Asian literature in 1975. Coppola put his stamp on offerings with his Film and novel in society course, originally titled The novel and the motion picture in contemporary society.

the 70s

Charles Jernigan (Dante, music and literature, opera, medieval literature) joined the department in 1970. In 1974 the World Literature option was added to the major. During the 70s Jernigan’s passion for world drama spawned a variety of regional theatre courses, and Markman’s interest in mythology was also reflected in a number of folklore courses. Special topics classes allowed faculty to try out ideas for new courses, such as: the love lyric, the tragic vision, the absurd, surrealism, existentialism, the LA cultural scene, religious themes of the twentieth century, expressionism, magical realism, American folklife, great narratives, the novel in the third world, nineteenth-century European decadence, and mythology and creativity. Some of these special topics courses earned permanent places in the catalogue. Two such standouts were Jernigan’s Comic Spirit course, which still enthralls students today, and his Dante course.

the 80s

Sarah Spence (Classics, especially Vergil, medieval and Renaissance poetry) was hired in 1982 and left after earning tenure in 1986. Frank Fata (German medieval and renaissance literature) came in 1986. Dr. Fata served as Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts starting in 1994. Michelle Yeh (traditional and modern Chinese poetry, comparative poetics, translation) came for a year in 1988. Alwin Baum (literary theory, modern literature, especially French and German, and literature and film) was hired in Comp Lit in 1989. Janet Rodriguez was the department coordinator for most of the 80s, followed by Scarlet Finney and Susan Coleman. Lecturers Raymond Lacoste and Raymond Waters, both of whom popularized the Comic spirit class, started teaching in the 80s, as well as Thomas Haeussler, who has taught nearly every course that Comp Lit offers.

The 80s were an experimental period in Comp Lit course development. Bush’s courses on the underground man (after Dostoyevsky) and the modern confessional novel came into being, as well as Markman’s mythic visions into mythology course; Jernigan’s team-taught folklore and the desert experience class featured a camping / rock climbing trip to Joshua Tree national park. Other new courses included the Greek world (co-taught by historian Dave Hood), the Medieval world (co-taught by historian Dee Abrahamse, who later became the first Dean of the College of Liberal Arts), and Fairy tales. Graduate-level courses also flourished.

Classics joined Comparative Literature in 1988, offering Greek, Latin, additional Classics courses and a minor in Classics, and bringing Conrad Barrett (mythology, Latin pedagogy) to the faculty the same year, as well as Douglas Domingo-Forasté (ancient Greek law, numismatics, Aelian, ancient oratory) in 1990. Classics began offering its own major in 1999. Greek mythology, Pagan culture, Greek and Latin roots in English, and Biomedical terminology quickly became course staples, in addition to the ancient languages. 

the 90s

Teri Yamada (Cambodian literature and culture, Buddhism) joined the department in 1995. Kate Gillon became the department coordinator in 1990, and Lisa Behrendt in 1996. Lecturers Karl Squitier, who drew crowds of students for his Greek mythology and pagan culture courses, Elaine Wida, and J. Mark Sugars started teaching in the 90s.

Department curriculum underwent a reimagining in the 90s, expanding world literature offerings, such as Ethnic literature and culture in America and Global literature in American culture, as well as Middle Eastern and South Asian literature, and Southeast Asian literatures. Haeussler revised the introductory world lit class and designed Reading the world, which has drawn in legions of Comp Lit majors. There appears to have also been a refocusing on European literature, with the name of the popular theatre class shifting from World theatre today to Western theatre today (now it is Theatre today), and Literature and the other arts becoming European literature and the other arts, changes which persisted for a decade. In Classics, the Classical world of Greece & Rome and Women in the classical world made their debuts.

the 00s

Carl Fisher (global eighteenth-century literature) joined the department in 2000 and F. Elizabeth Dahab (post-colonial literature, francophone literature, diasporic literature, Middle Eastern literature) and Vlatka Velcic (Eastern European literature, cultural studies, post-colonial literature) in 2001. In 2002 the department name was changed to Comparative World Literature and Classics. Nicole Hirschfeld (underwater archaeology, especially shipwrecks, ancient material culture, ancient seafaring) came for two years starting in 2002. Kathryn Chew (ancient novels, mythology, women in ancient literature) was hired in Classics in 2003, and Paul Scotton (Greek archaeology, mythology) joined Classics in 2005. Nhora Serrano (medieval literature, 2007-2014) and Cheryl Goldstein (Dante, renaissance & early modern literature, 2007-2014) were hired soon after. Gretchen Dinger became the department coordinator in 2006. Lecturer Peter Markman took over the advanced folklore and mythology classes for many years, and lecturers Pravina Cooper and Jessica Brooks started teaching for the department.

The 00s birthed many of the specialty courses the department is known for: Dahab’s Middle Eastern literature and culture, Velcic’s Eastern European literature and culture, Fisher’s Literature of the Holocaust, Literature and medicine, Cultural studies, and Haeussler’s the Imagination at play on the CWL side; on the Classics side Hirschfeld’s Classical archaeology, Archaeology of Ancient Greece, and Archaeology of the Roman world, Forasté’s ancient Greek literature and Latin literature, and Squitier’s Hollywood does Rome, the Underworld, and Ancient eats. In 2002 CWL inaugurated the Cultural Studies emphasis. The Latin teaching credential advised by Chew began to be offered in 2005. 

the 10s

Jordan Smith (transnational literature, Japanese literature), who had taught for many years in the department as a lecturer, joined CWL for two years starting in 2012. Dr. Yamada left CWL to chair AAAS in 2013, after serving as the campus CFA president for several years. Dr. Scotton began to take students to Greece for his Corinthian harbor excavation. Dr. Fisher eventually moved up to work at the CSU Chancellor's Office. Nancy Comito became the department coordinator in 2013. Lecturers Katherine McLoone, Christopher Shaw, Talar Chahinian, Levon Parseghian, Amy Desuza-Riehm, Letitia Deon, and later Kelsey Bright began teaching for the department during this time. 

During the 10s more of the popular thematic courses were invented: Serrano’s Comics and graphic narratives, Dahab’s Nobel prize laureates, Velcic’s Erotica, love and romance, Fisher’s From cradle to crypt: representation of lifespan, Digital narrative and culture, Science fiction and global technologies, and Representing the world: literature and culture in conflict and contact. 

In 2018 the department of Comparative World Literature and Classics split into independent programs within the College of Liberal Arts. 

the 20s

In 2020 Crystal Yin Lie (health humanities, disability studies, visual studies) and in 2024 Viola Lasmana (digital humanities, transpacific studies, critical race theory) joined the faculty. The minor in Health Humanities began in 2021 along with its introductory course, both initially designed by Chew. In the early 20s McLoone created the popular courses Science fiction, fantasy and horror, Short stories of the world, and Global fantasy, and gave new life to the global middle ages course The world before 1492. The signature undergraduate research seminar created by Dahab also debuted in 2020. 

The story of CWL is the story of its faculty, who have used their expertise to transform course offerings from traditional regional or period studies to thematic studies that open students’ eyes to the ever-changing power of comparative work, keeping CWL at the forefront of innovation.

NB: this history is based upon data provided by the university archives on the schedules of classes and the university catalogs, as well as department files. Some evidence is spotty; lecturers only begin to be listed in the schedule of classes in Fall 1995. Due to space limits and the desire for readability we have not listed all faculty who have taught for CWL. For instance in Fall 1990 Dr. Maulana Karenga, current chair of the Africana Studies department, taught a course on ancient Egyptian literature for the department. If you notice any glaring mistakes or omissions, please let us know!