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Division of Languages and Literature

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The Division of Languages and Literature offers majors in the areas of literature; written arts; and foreign languages, cultures, and literatures. All students in the division are encouraged to study languages other than English; foreign language instruction currently offered includes American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Yiddish, and ancient Greek and Latin. Interdisciplinary majors are also offered in Asian studies, classical studies, French studies, German studies, Italian studies, Middle Eastern studies, Russian and Eurasian studies, and Spanish studies (see Interdivisional Programs and Concentrations).
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Our Programs

The Division of Languages and Literature includes the following academic programs:

Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Literatures
Literature
Written Arts

Matthew Mutter, Division Chair; Associate Professor of Literature

Coursework and Requirements

Coursework and Requirements

Several special interdisciplinary initiatives offer series of courses that are clustered thematically. Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) courses critically analyze systems of racial hierarchy and power from multiple disciplinary perspectives; Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) courses link academic work with civic engagement; Courage to Be seminars address the practice of courageous action in the 21st century; Hate Studies Initiative (HSI) courses examine the human capacity to define and dehumanize an “other”; Calderwood Seminars help Upper College students think about translating discipline-specific writing to a general audience; and OSUN online and collaborative courses are taught by faculty at Bard and at partner institutions throughout the world and enroll students from across the Bard Network. Other course clusters include the Thinking Animals Initiative (TAI), Migration Initiative, Asian Diasporic Initiative, and Disability and Accessibility Studies Initiative (DASI).
  • Literature
    Bard students who make the study of literature the central focus of their work explore specific periods (such as medieval or Renaissance Europe), relations among national literatures (in forms such as lyric poetry or the novel), or literature within the context of culture, history, or literary theory.

    Literature

    Bard students who make the study of literature the central focus of their work explore specific periods (such as medieval or Renaissance Europe), relations among national literatures (in forms such as lyric poetry or the novel), or literature within the context of culture, history, or literary theory. Comparative studies of literature, other arts, and theories of literature are a regular part of course offerings. The curriculum emphasizes cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity, and it is vitally engaged with interdisciplinary fields such as Africana studies, American and Indigenous studies, Asian studies, environmental studies, experimental humanities, gender and sexuality studies, human rights, Latin American and Iberian studies, medieval studies, Middle Eastern studies, and theology.
  • Written Arts
    Students in the Written Arts Program take workshops and tutorials in prose fiction or poetry and study a foreign language, in addition to completing the same course requirements as literature majors. Those who choose foreign languages can explore a range of interests and develop courses of study that bring together work in culture, history, and other fields.
  • Senior Project
    Seniors must summon up imagination, knowledge, discipline, and independence for the Senior Project. Each student usually decides on a topic in the spring of their junior year and is matched with a faculty member to serve as their Senior Project adviser at that time.

    Senior Project

    Seniors must summon up imagination, knowledge, discipline, and independence for the Senior Project. Each student usually decides on a topic in the spring of their junior year and is matched with a faculty member to serve as their Senior Project adviser at that time. During their senior year, students generally meet with their advisers for an hour each week. Over the years, students have translated works of poetry and fiction; written critical studies of texts from across the world, spanning from the ancient past to the present day; and produced original works, including novellas, book-length poems, and short story collections. With faculty permission, Senior Projects may take the form of a novel, poem sequence, play, or collection of short stories.

Discover More

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Bard Translation and
Translatability Initiative

BTTI encourages curricular initiatives that promote translation, particularly from a multicultural or multidisciplinary perspective, and aims to bring together scholars, teachers, writers, and artists from the United States and other countries. BTTI also works with Bard faculty members to elicit new interdisciplinary insights, develop new curricula, strengthen communication, and stimulate experimentation among the College’s four divisions and across its network of international liberal arts and graduate studies programs. Among other events throughout the academic year, BTTI hosts an annual translation symposium at Bard.
BTTI Website →

Languages and Literature News and Events

Featured News

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Daniel Mendelsohn Interviewed in the New York Review of Books

Mendelsohn discussed his new translation of Homer’s Odyssey for the University of Chicago Press.

Daniel Mendelsohn Interviewed in the New York Review of Books

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Daniel Mendelsohn, Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities. 
Daniel Mendelsohn, the Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities, spoke with the New York Review of Books about his new translation of Homer’s Odyssey for the University of Chicago Press. In conversation with Lauren Kane, Mendelsohn discussed the challenges of balancing both poetic beauty and literal meaning in translating, the ways in which the story handles depictions of family relationships, and why the epic is experiencing a resurgence in modern retellings. The Odyssey, he says, is a “postwar poem, but it’s also a sort of post-everything poem. The old order has disappeared. The gods have receded. They’re almost not present at all, except in a couple of crucial moments, and certainly not in the way they’re present in the Iliad, where they’re all over the action and fighting in the battles. You feel the gods have withdrawn. Odysseus is a lone guy in a strange world with no familiar landmarks. The whole poem is haunted by a feeling that the old world order has come to an end, and now we’re just on our own, making our way as best we can. That may be what’s speaking to people.”
Read the Full Interview With Daniel Mendelsohn

Post Date: 05-13-2025

Recent News

  • Bard College Student Samantha Barrett ’26 Wins 2025 PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize

    Bard College Student Samantha Barrett ’26 Wins 2025 PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize

    Samantha Barrett ’26.
    Bard written arts major Samantha Barrett ’26 has won the 2025 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. This award recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website, and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers. Chosen for originality, craft, and pushing the boundaries of the genre, each winner receives a $2,000 cash prize and is published by Catapult in their annual anthology, Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize. This year’s judges—Lydi Conklin, Dionne Irving, Brenda Peynado—selected the winning stories from a range of dynamic literary publications. 

    Barrett’s prize-winning story “Invert” was published by Foglifter Journal, issue 9.1 (2024) and nominated by the journal’s editors for the PEN award. Barrett will attend the 61st annual PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony on May 8 in New York City, where over 20 distinct awards, fellowships, grants, prizes, and nearly $350,000 will be conferred to writers and translators.

    “I'm deeply honored to receive this award, and incredibly excited to attend this ceremony along with some of the most promising up-and-coming writers of today,” said Barrett.

    The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers is generously supported by the family of the late Robert J. Dau, whose commitment to the literary arts made him a fitting namesake for this career-launching prize. Before his death, Robert J. Dau, a lifelong Michigan resident, requested that a prize be established to promote budding writers. He knew that Ernest Hemingway spent summers with his family in northern Michigan and was a contemporary of Dau’s mother. Hemingway spent a winter writing in Dau’s hometown of Petoskey, and Robert loved Hemingway’s connection to his hometown. He also loved that Hemingway wrote his Nick Adams stories about places he knew personally. Dau’s admiration for Hemingway resulted in the creation of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers.
    Read more at PEN

    Post Date: 05-06-2025
  • Robert Cioffi Reviews The Red Sea Scrolls for the London Review of Books

    Robert Cioffi Reviews The Red Sea Scrolls for the London Review of Books

    Assistant Professor of Classics Robert Cioffi.
    Professor Robert Cioffi reviewed The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids by Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner for the London Review of Books. The authors discuss an archaeological discovery that changed how we view the Great Pyramid of Giza: the papyri of Wadi el-Jarf, written between 2607 and 2605 BCE. These documents name people who worked on the pyramid, how much they were paid, and what their tasks were. As Cioffi puts it, these documents are "a first-hand account of the men who built the Great Pyramid of Giza.”

    Cioffi’s review draws on his expertise in papyrology and Egyptian cultural interactions. He writes that while Tallet and Lehner can’t explain everything about the pyramids, they do reveal important facts about the daily life of workers there. Thanks to the papyri, “For the first time in 4500 years, Khufu’s pyramid has its voices again: not of priests or pharaohs but of the men who made it possible.”
    Read the Review
    Listen to the LRB Podcast: “How They Built the Pyramids” with Robert Cioffi

    Post Date: 05-05-2025
  • Bard College Celebrates Student Achievements at Undergraduate Awards Ceremony

    Bard College Celebrates Student Achievements at Undergraduate Awards Ceremony

    Sierra Ford ’26 receives the inaugural Betsaida Alcantara ’05 Pioneers for Progress Award. Photo by Joseph Nartey ’26
    Faculty, staff, and students gathered at Blithewood Manor for this year’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony, which was held on Monday, April 28. The annual ceremony is a celebration of the incredible talent and dedication showcased by Bard students, as well as the unwavering support and guidance from esteemed faculty and staff at the College. The evening's awardees, who were nominated by faculty from across the four divisions of the College, represent excellence in the arts; social studies; languages and literature; and science, mathematics, and computing. Among the awardees were students in the Bard Baccalaureate, a program for older students returning to college to finish their undergraduate degrees. 

    The event featured remarks and award presentations from key figures, including President of the College Leon Botstein, Dean of the College Deirdre d'Albertis, Dean of Studies and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs David Shein, and Bard Alumna Cara Parks ’05. A special highlight of the evening was the announcement of a newly established award in memory of a beloved Bardian, Betsaida Alcantara ’05, by the Class of 2005, family, friends, and loved ones who knew her. The inaugural Betsaida Alcantara ’05 Pioneers for Progress Award, in memory of Betsaida Alcantara '05 (1983–2022), who exemplified the best of Bard's hope to inspire people to be passionate agents of change, pioneers for progress, and advocates for justice for those most in need was given to Sierra Ford ’26 who has demonstrated strong leadership skills, a commitment to public service, and support for open societies.
     
    The presentation of awards was a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the exceptional academic achievement, leadership, and commitment demonstrated by Bard students. It was a testament to their hard work and perseverance, which defines the spirit of Bard College and serves as an inspiration to us all.

    Many of the undergraduate awards are made possible by generous contributions from Bard donors. Thank you to all our supporters for believing in the value of a college education, and for investing in the future of Bard students.
    Learn more about the Dean of Studies Office
    Learn more about Bard’s Scholarship, Awards, and Prizes

    Post Date: 04-30-2025
  • “Rebuilding the World Through Queer Video Games:” Bo Ruberg ’07 for YES Magazine

    “Rebuilding the World Through Queer Video Games:” Bo Ruberg ’07 for YES Magazine

    Bard College alum Bo Ruberg ’07.
    In an article for YES Magazine, Bo Ruberg ’07, Bard alum and professor of film and media studies at UC Irvine, reflects on the role that video games hold in building worlds for marginalized people and communities. For Ruberg, the relationship between the physical world and the virtual space accessed within video games is complex, and the latter is no less real for being speculative, given that it offers players a chance to inhabit and interact with realities that are different from our own. “Through video games, I theorize a practice that I term queer worldbuilding,” Ruberg writes. “Queer worldbuilding is not the same thing as building worlds that feature queer stories or communities, though such worlds themselves have immense value. Instead, queer worldbuilding describes the practice of constructing new worlds through methods, frameworks, and tools that can themselves be understood as queer.”
    Read More About Bo Ruberg’s Exploration of Queer Worldbuilding

    Post Date: 04-22-2025
  • NYT Opinion: “This Is How Universities Can Escape Trump’s Trap, If They Dare,” Writes M. Gessen

    NYT Opinion: “This Is How Universities Can Escape Trump’s Trap, If They Dare,” Writes M. Gessen

    Bard College campus. Photo by Chris Kendall ’82
    In an opinion piece for the New York Times, M. Gessen, distinguished visiting writer at Bard, asserts that the way universities can fight against the Trump administration’s attacks is to abandon concerns of rankings, endowment building, and campus amenities to “focus on their core mission: the production and dissemination of knowledge.” Gessen spoke to Bard College President Leon Botstein because he “has long practiced the approach I am advocating” and “seems to respond to every crisis by figuring out ways to teach more people”—citing the Bard Prison Initiative, Bard Early Colleges, and Bard Microcolleges as some examples of the College’s mission-driven expansion of higher education beyond traditional pathways. Botstein believes universities are essential to democracy as “portals to tolerance and the expression of fundamental equality of all human beings.” Gessen challenges other universities to: “Act like universities, not like businesses. Spend your endowments. Accept more, not fewer students. Open up your campuses and expand your reach not by buying real estate but by bringing education to communities. Create a base. Become a movement.”
    Read in New York Times

    Post Date: 04-14-2025
  • Joseph O’Neill Interviewed by the New York Review of Books on the State of US Democracy

    Joseph O’Neill Interviewed by the New York Review of Books on the State of US Democracy

    Distinguished Visiting Professor of Written Arts Joseph O’Neill. Photo by Michael Lionstar
    Daniel Drake interviewed Distinguished Visiting Professor of Written Arts Joseph O’Neill for the New York Review of Books, speaking to O’Neill about his assessment of the state of authoritarianism and resistance in the United States. “The end of the rule of law does not mean that we automatically find ourselves in an authoritarian society,” O’Neill said, but cautioned Democrats against being “distracted by the past.” “The (dubious) strategies hatched by their consultants in response to Trump’s win—‘talk about egg prices,’ ‘work with Republicans,’ and so on—make even less sense than usual,” O’Neill said. “New strategies, new faces, and a new level of adversarial exertion will be required.”
    Read More in the New York Review of Books

    Post Date: 03-25-2025
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