Pericles Lewis, Yale University

Dear President Naylor, Provost Misak, and Dean Gertler,

I read with dismay of the plans to disband the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto.  My parents are both alumni of the University of Toronto, and I took several courses there as an undergraduate and am a graduate of the University of Toronto Schools.  I received my B.A. in English from McGill and my PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford and have been teaching at Yale since 1998.

As letters you have already received indicate, Comparative Literature is a thriving discipline that is of increasing importance to literary study in the 21st century, as it crosses traditional national boundaries and responds more quickly than other aspects of literary studies to globalization and the need to create an international curriculum.  The Centre at Toronto is very highly regarded in the field.  I understand from press coverage that a major goal of the reorganization of five departments into the School of Languages and Literatures is  to save approximately $1 million, presumably in staff, graduate student, and capital costs.  I would suggest that you could achieve similar savings by creating the School of Languages and Literatures but maintaining the Centre for Comparative Literature in some form within the new School.  Comparatists often provide leadership in departments of national languages and literatures and could in this case help the new School to be responsive to the changing intellectual environment created by globalization.  This would help not only Comparative Literature but all the national languages and literatures at Toronto stay on the cutting edge.  It would likely not cost much more than the current proposal but would help to maintain the University’s high standing as a centre for literary study.  Maintaining some formal structure for Comparative Literature is essential.  If it becomes only a collaborative program with other departments, you are likely to lose the intellectual leadership provided by an autonomous Comparative Literature Centre.  I urge you to reconsider the proposed action and to keep the excellent tradition of Comparative Literature alive at the University of Toronto.

Yours sincerely,

Pericles Lewis

Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Director of Graduate Studies, Comparative Literature

Yale University

Website: https://webspace.yale.edu/pericleslewis/