Who said turning 40 was a bad thing? In honor of its four decades, the Department of Comparative Literature at Cornell University is throwing something of a scholarly celebration for itself this month. Events include two distinguished speakers who were involved in the department's founding, followed by Cornell faculty panel discussions, as well as the announcement of two new curriculum tracks in the department: comparative literary studies, and literary, visual and media studies.

The events are:

• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak of Columbia University will deliver a public talk, "Close Reading," Wednesday, April 19, at 4:30 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall. Spivak received her Ph.D. in comparative literature at Cornell in 1967 and quickly became an influential voice in deconstruction and a pivotal figure in the development of postcolonial theory.
• Geoffrey Hartman of Yale University will give a talk, "Reflections on Monuments and Memorials in the Aftermath of 9/11," Wednesday, April 26, at 4:30 p.m. in the Philip Lewis Auditorium in Goldwin Smith Hall. A member of the department in its first year, Hartman is winner of the 2006 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism and is recognized for his role in founding the Yale School of Criticism, his works in Romanticism and his founding of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies.
• Hartman will join Cornell comparative literature faculty members for a roundtable discussion, "Cornell Comparative Literature Past and Present," Thursday, April 27, at noon in 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

All events are free and open to the public.

The Department of Comparative Literature was founded in 1965-66 and carried the legacy of its previous incarnation, the Interdepartmental Committee on Literature. The department's founding chair Burton Pike said the goal of the department was to keep "freedom, irreverence and intellectual vitality at its center."

In addition to the 40th-anniversary lectures, the department will announce a revision of its undergraduate major in comparative literature. The department, renowned for it contributions to critical theory, will now offer two special concentrations: comparative literary studies, and literary, visual and media studies.

"While our track in comparative literary studies provides our students with a focused emphasis on theoretical and historical study of the literary," said Timothy Murray, acting chair and director of graduate studies in comparative literature, "our new track in literary, visual and media studies is designed for students who wish to pursue their comparative study of literature and theory by integrating rigorous work on film, video or other arts or media."

Currently the department has 30 comp lit majors and 30 doctoral candidates. There are eight regular faculty members and senior lecturers and 12 joint faculty in English, classics, Asian studies, German studies, Romance studies, history and Africana studies. Comparative literature offers courses that are cross-listed with 25 other departments and programs.