Comparative literature is the oldest field of literary criticism, dating back to the seventeenth century. Among the wide range of studies currently conducted in comparative literature nationally and internationally, this program focuses on theories of literary criticism and its explanatory bases; indeed the program is seen as one of the principal initiators of such fields of study. This program is likewise engaged in pushing the bounds of critical inquiry in related domains of literary studies, directing much of its energies toward the intersection of literature with other media (in various constellations of word, sound, and image) and of literatures of the global North with those of the global South, engaging problems ranging from narrative to post-colonial studies.