Department of Comparative Literature

The Department of Comparative Literature at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat is the second full-fledged department of its kind in India after Jadavpur University, Kolkata. It was established in 1991. It offers courses at Post-Graduate, M.Phil and Ph.D. levels. The courses of study have been focused on Gujarati and other Indian language contexts. The main thrust of the Post-Graduate degree course in comparative Indian literature is on influence studies, women's Studies and Dalit literature.
At the M.Phil level the department offers content courses in Literary Criticism and Theory, Research Methodology, Literature of Rabindranath Tagore (Gujarati, Hindi & English Literature) and A Comparative Study of Indian Literature (Gujarati, Hindi & English Literature). The Department has so far produced 23 M. Phil dissertations.
One teacher in the department, namely, Dr. Damyanti Parmar is recognized as supervisor for Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Gujarati Literature. The University requires aspirants for Ph.D. to submit a research proposal which is evaluated by two experts form outside the University before the candidate is allowed to register. The Department of Comparative Literature has so far produced 19 Ph.Ds. in areas like Comparative Literature, Indian Literature, Translation Studies, Influence Studies, Genre Studies, Thematic Studies, Gujarati and Hindi.
The Comparative Literature has two teachers of whom one is Reader (CAS) and one is Lecturer. 6 research scholars are working on their Ph.D. projects now in the Department. Awarded Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship to Three Students for M.Phil and 7 scholars are at various stages of completion of their M.Phil programme.
The Department regularly organizes seminars and workshops on subject are related to advanced areas of Comparative Literature and Indian Literature. Students are required to present seminars and submit assignments as part of their Post-graduate programme. Lectures by eminent professors are a regular feature of the Department. We also arrange film shows based on literary classics.