INTRODUCTION
PREREQUISITES FOR THE EXAM
FIELDS AND EXAMINERS
GUIDELINES ON THE LENGTH OF READING LISTS
PREPARATION
THE EXAM ITSELF
LOOKING AHEAD: THE DISSERTATION PROSPECTUS
- Defining the Field. Who were the authors that defined the literary culture of your historical period, and how did they do so? How have various literary schools or subcultures (e.g, the Harlem Renaissance, the Bloomsbury Group, the Scottish Chaucerians) been delineated, and with what implications? What was your major author's specific contribution to or impact on her/his literary culture, and how has this contribution been challenged, contested, or revised?
- Form and Genre. What were the major literary genres produced during your period and/or by your author, and how are these genres usually distinuished from one another? How are the formal elements of these genres generally characterized in relation to one another? What historical, aesthetic, and political factors helped shape these genres, and how?
- Critical Trends. How did the most influential critics envision the work of your major author just after World War II, and how (and why) have critical views changed in the subsequent decades? If your historical period is, say, nineteenth-century American literature, how would you characterize the general contours of the criticism on this period over the last fifty years? What are the most visible trends in scholarship today, and where do you see the field going in the near future?
- Theme/Topic. What led you to formulate your chosen theme or topic, and how has it given you a new perspective on literary history? How will this theme or topic lend itself to your dissertation research, and how has it helped you formulate a series of questions you might grapple with in writing a prospectus?
II. PREREQUISITES FOR THE EXAM
The fields are defined as follows:
- Historical Period: You are responsible for covering major and minor works in a conventionally defined historical period of British, American, or Anglophone literature. The historical period usually covers 100 years or more, and at least 75 years except in unusual circumstances. The historical field should not be keyed too precisely to the topic of your dissertation but should instead engage a comprehensive and representative selection of both canonical and non-canonical writings that reflects the general view of the period obtaining in your field.
- Major Author: You are responsible for the author's complete works, biography, and the history of criticism generated by her or his life and works. "Major Author" may also be defined as a cluster of "minor" authors, or of works that delineate an "author function" (e.g., the anonymous author[s] of the English Mystery Plays). In any case, and with the exception of certain contemporary or little-studied writers, the author must have generated a substantial body of criticism that can be read alongside the works, and by the end of the exams the candidate should possess a considerable level of expertise in the author's oeuvre and the history of criticism.
- Topic/Theme: The topical or thematic portion of the exam will cover a particular theme or genre, an aspect of literary theory, an interdisciplinary subfield, or an issue in the history of criticism of the candidate's choosing. The theme/topic section is intended in part to allow for the preliminary exploration of texts, issues, theory, and criticism that will figure significantly in the writing of a dissertation prospectus in the months following the exam.
IV. GUIDELINES ON THE LENGTH OF READING LISTS
- Historical Field: about 40-50 major primary works, or clusters of minor works that add up to a major work. Also approximately 10-15 books (or equivalent in articles) that represent landmark criticism in the field. (Americanists should know F.O. Matthiessen, e.g., while medievalists should know D.W. Robertson.) The Director of Graduate Studies has lists for most periods of American, British, and Anglophone literary studies on file in the Graduate Office as guidelines for putting together your own list. Though we encourage you to modify these lists in any way you or your field examiner sees fit, be aware that the size, representativeness, and comprehension of your own final lists should closely approximate the contents of those approved lists that are on file. A few examples of what counts as a "major" or "minor" work: Shakespeare's King Lear and John Donne's Songs and Sonnets would each count as a major work; Shakespeare's "The Rape of Lucrece" would not, though it could be grouped with "Venus and Adonis" and "A Lover's Complaint" to count as one. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" would not count as a major work, though the collection in which it appeared, Mosses from an Old Manse, would. Again, be sure that you understand what distinguishes a major work and that you clear your selections with your Historical Field examiner.
- Major Author: complete works, with reasonable modifications in the case of exceptionally prolific writers, such as Charles Dickens or Thomas More. Also approximately 15-20 books (or equivalent in articles) that represent a survey of major criticism/biography of your author. The criticism should include a historically broad range of the most influential work that has shaped the understanding of your author. In the case of contemporary or recently "recovered" writers whose work has not yet generated a large body of criticism, you should design a list that will allow you to put the primary texts and what criticism does exist in dialogue with other works from the same literary milieu.
- Topic/Theme: about 25-30 major works (as defined above in 1. and 2.), either primary, secondary, or theoretical (or some combination thereof).
The Comprehensive Examination consists of two parts as follows:
- A 48-hour take-home typed answer (not to exceed 15 typed double-spaced pages) to a broad synthesizing question on the student's interests set by the three examiners—field, author, topic. The 48-hour period will be worked out in consultation with the student. The written exam should be submitted to the examining committee no more than three weeks before the oral exam, as it will be used as a basis to initiate discussion during the examination. The student must pass this section before proceeding to the oral exam. If a student fails the written exam, a new written question will be set and the oral will be postponed until the student satisfactorily passes the written exam. Under normal circumstances, the question will be similar to the original. Students may ordinarily retake the exam one time only within three months.
- A 2-hour oral examination. (Faculty members should schedule 2-1/2 hours for the oral exam to allow time for discussion.) Questions are asked on all three fields, and questions may refer, but will not be limited, to the pre-submitted written essay. After the first hour of the exam the examiners hold a discussion of no more than 10 minutes, during which the student must not be present. He or she will then be invited to return. The fourth member of the examining committee initiates questions in the second hour. The Director of Graduate Studies is present as a voting member.
VII. LOOKING AHEAD: THE DISSERTATION PROSPECTUS
Now that you've passed your Comps and you're officially "ABD," you will start thinking in more specific terms about your dissertation. The first step will be the selection of a dissertation director, whom you will choose in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. The second step is the writing of a prospectus in consultation with your dissertation director. Both of these steps are discussed in "Guidelines and Suggestions for the Prospectus, the Prospectus Conversation, and Dissertation Writing for the PhD in English," available in the Graduate Office.
A warning: Many Ph.D. students get bogged down at the point in their studies between Comps and the prospectus conversation, sometimes spending as many as three or four years formulating a prospectus. It doesn't have to be this way. Indeed, if you begin thinking early on in this process about your dissertation—that is, if you let the Comps preparation experience guide you in how to assimilate ideas, pull various texts and arguments together, and gain confidence in your own possible contributions to your field—you should be able to hold your prospectus conversation just two or three months after the Comps.
NOTE: In this description of the Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination procedures, should anything conflict with Graduate School rules, Graduate School rules take precedence.