Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) is for students who like literature but do not wish to major in English or in a single language offered by the Department of Literatures, Cultures & Languages. It is an individualized major in Literature itself, and students take courses in any or all of the above literatures, as well as in related areas such as film studies, literary and cultural theory, history, anthropology, sociology, etc. Most semesters an undergraduate course is taught (in English) specifically as a CLCS course, such as the two-part Classics of World Literature. In recent semesters, CLCS courses have covered such subjects as Modernism in Architecture and Literature, The Politics of Avant-Garde Literature and Art, Gertrude Stein and Her Friends, Myth and Literature, Psychoanalysis and Literature, The Epic Poem, Modern Literary Criticism, Literature and the Fine Arts, Magic and the Occult in Literature, Semiotics, The Art and Literature of the Baroque, etc.

For an individualized major in CLCS, a student should take 12 credits in CLCS, and 12 credits in one national literature (English, French, Italian, German, etc.). An additional 12 credits in a related field (philosophy, history, etc.) is recommended, but related courses can also be in the national literatures. Since CLCS is intended as a major for students with more imagination and resourcefulness than usual, the specifics of the major are always worked out individually between the student and his/her advisor. CLCS is an excellent undergraduate major for the student who intends to enter graduate school either in this field itself (UConn offers an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies), or in any national literature. Since its primary concern is always the nature of literature itself, regardless of national origins, it is at the center of the humanities.