Our report is based on extensive interviews with most of the faculty members involved in the Comparative Literature Program at Rutgers, as well as with numerous graduate and undergraduate students. We consulted the printed material put at our disposal and had conversations with several administrative officers of the University. We also spoke with Professor Guarino, Chairman of the Department of Literatures and Languages, and with Associate Provost Jean Parrish, who is herself closely associated with the program. We were able to get a good overview of the state of the discipline and we are satisfied that none of the strengths or weaknesses of the program remained hidden from us.

The document prepared by the internal faculty and entitled “A Report on the History and Activities of the New Brunswick Discipline” (no date) has proven to be very informative in the preparation of this report. It describes the history and the objectives of the department in clear and objective terms and tells how the faculty tried to meet the recommendations of the earlier Greene report (1975). We find ourselves in substantial agreement with most of the conclusions reached in section 4 (Resources and Needs of the Discipline) of this document. We have been primarily concerned with the implementation of the statement of intent formulated at that time and with evaluating the activities that have developed since it was submitted. The report is divided into two main parts. The second part follows the outline provided in our instructions but, since this outline leaves some important aspects uncovered, we thought it useful to preface it by some considerations, both more general with regard to the field of comparative literature and more specific with regard to the particular situation at Rutgers.