General and Comparative Literature (LGC) Master’s Degree

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The majority of our courses are taught in French. We invite you to also have a look at the list of courses offered in English at Rennes 2.

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The LGC Master’s provides training excellence in comparative literary research (interactions and exchanges between French and foreign literatures and between literature and the arts, history and human sciences) through connecting text criticism, creative practices, an introduction to cultural mediation and preparation for defending the research dissertation before a jury that takes place at the end of the second year.

Year 1 is organized around a single pathway, combining fundamental literary knowledge, specialized modules (History and Theory of European Literature, Creation and Mediation, Literature and Politics, etc.) and cultural projects linked to the Rennes public space (France Culture-Télérama Prize, Festival des Transversales, Festival Jardins d’Hiver des Champs Libres, etc.). This takes place in parallel with compiling an individual research dossier for students wishing to go on to the Master 2.

In year 2, students can choose between two pathways:

  • a specific Comparative Contemporary Writing (ECCO) pathway that focuses on the theory and practice of contemporary literature, designed in partnership with cultural institutions in Rennes (notably Les Champs Libres);

  • a Literature and Culture pathway whose main focus is French and European literature from a historical and theoretical perspective.

These two pathways are excellent preliminaries for preparation for the CAPES and Agrégation competitive examinations as well as for the doctorate.

The LGC Master’s degree has a joint degree agreement with the Digital Humanities Master’s degree. Registration for the joint degree must be done in Master 1 through an independent application. The Digital Humanities classes are grouped together to take place on a day specifically reserved in the LGC Master’s programme schedule. Students taking the joint degree will have a lighter class load.

Each student can replace a semester or a year of the Master 1 or Master 2 with a stay abroad (with course assessment equivalencies in place).

Students in the ECCO pathway can replace the second semester in Master 2 with an internship in a company, institution or cultural association; M1 and M2 students in the Literature and Culture pathway wishing to do an internship need to contact the Master’s course leaders to see what opportunities are available.

Objectives

The LGC Master’s degree responds to the need for research training focused on theoretical and methodological innovation, on the study of literature and the arts on a European and global scale, on linguistic and cultural diversity, on textual creation and on cultural and digital mediation.

It offers students the option of integration into a European or American university syllabus or exchange for at least one semester of study in one of our partner universities.

In particular, it is supported by the research programmes of the Phi Group (Research Group in Historical and Comparative Poetics) and the Centre for the Study of Ancient and Modern Languages and Literatures (CELLAM, EA 3206) as well as by the ALEF group of young researchers, bringing together doctoral students and early career researchers in literature and the arts. It involves students in professional research by organizing a Master 2 colloquium that is common to both pathways.

It fosters gateways to training courses, competitive examinations and professions with an international cultural dimension:

  • careers in libraries, publishing or cultural associations requiring a good command of the textual object and a knowledge of its issues as well as skills in terms of organization, project preparation and dissemination;

  • activities of future project leaders and teachers in the field of artistic, educational and cultural activities to promote intercultural relations in Europe.

The ECCO pathway is particularly open to cultural institutions in the Rennes public space, where internship agreements are encouraged. M1 and M2 students in the Literature and Culture pathway who wish to do an internship must contact the Master’s degree course leaders to find out what opportunities are available.

The two pathways of the LGC Master’s Degree are excellent preliminaries for preparation for the CAPES and Agrégation competitive examinations and for a doctorate.

Skills

  • Literary research methods;

  • History of European and world literature;

  • Critical theories and cultural studies;

  • Cultural mediation;

  • Digital humanities;

  • Literary creation.