Literature Department
Presentation

The Literature Department was born in 1969 with the objective of developing the study of literature as a unit within the old Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. Since then, its main concern has been to accede to the texts not only from the aesthetic dimension that is in itself intrinsic to them but in order to view its semiotic dimension as linguistic, anthropological and cultural documents. Thereof, its tightly knit connection to Philosophy, the Arts, and the Human and Social Sciences.

Since its initiation the department nurtures its own undergraduate program and from the early nineteen eighties offers a Master's program emphasizing on the study of Latin American and Colombian Literature.

It is the business of the Department to recognize the difference between creative writing and literary studies, being that the first one is conceived as an expression of the individual and the latter is defined as a means of investigation and knowledge of such an expression.

In view of the fact that literary expression does not encompass in it the same character of a scientific activity the Department bases its scientific aspect upon the rigorous approach to literature. Therefore this is presumed as a significant structure relatively autonomous per se as an expression and so the purpose of the literary studies is to relate such structure with other structures foreign to it, as these are born from it, it refers to it and at last transcends it in such aspects as: ideological contexts, economic, political, temporal, social, discursive and other orders.

In relation to the teaching aspect of literature, the Department primarily assists both the Undergraduate and Master's Programs but also offers a significant group of electives for students from other areas of the University, as well as, optional and complementary units for continued education.