The Department of Comparative Studies in Literatures and Cultures

• Department staff

The Department of Comparative Studies in Literatures and Cultures was founded in 1994 by DrValentin Fatyuschenko, a distinguished professor of Moscow State University. Our academic staff expanded the standard curriculum, which included history and theory of literature, comparative mythology, art history, biblical studies. The new courses, such as Masterpieces of World LiteratureorThe Russian World in the Context of World Civilizations, are highly acclaimed among students. Without this broad education in the humanities, language competency might become limited to everyday communicative practice.

The department boasts intense research activity, a truly interdisciplinary approach to culture, as well as strong affiliations with scholars, research groups, institutions and universities in and outside Russia. All of this enables us to host the biannual conference The Phenomenon of The Creative Personality in Culture.

To meet the demand for specialist knowledge in the theory and history of culture, we launched a programme in Cultural Studies in 2009. The programme covers a range of aspects and forms of culture, from ancient civilizations and traditional cultures to contemporary critical theory and Western cultural theory. Thanks to our diverse academic staff and close cooperation with the Faculty of Philosophy, participants of the programme have access to in-depth studyof literary and art history, Eastern and Western traditional culture, and philosophy of culture. Our workshops, ethnography, and other types of field practice mean that our students shall not be limited to theory. They shall become proper specialists in culture; they shall learn to appreciate and produce it. As José Ortega-y-Gasset wrote, We cannot put off living until we are ready. <…>Life is fired at us point-blank. And culture, which is but its interpretation, cannot wait any more than can life itself. Those words have become a motto for our department.