Embrace an ExpansIve Vision of Literary Study
With a faculty composed of renowned scholars and dedicated teachers, the MIT Literature section offers a wide range of courses across time periods, international cultures, and languages. Literature courses at MIT examine how multiple expressive forms, such as novels, poems, plays, films, and visual art, not only make imaginative and critical sense of history and the present but also project us into a range of possible futures.
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MIT/French Library Author Series: Emily Eakin presents The French Men, Or My Life in Theory
MIT/French Library Author Series: Emily Eakin presents The French Men, Or My Life in Theory
"When Emily Eakin arrived at Harvard in the late 1980s, she fell under the spell of French theory. In her acclaimed new book, she intertwines her own youthful fascination with theory with the remarkable story of its rise in American intellectual and cultural life."
Co-sponsored with Bosto...
MIT/French Library Author Series: Anne Pauly presents Before I Forget
MIT/French Library Author Series: Anne Pauly presents Before I Forget
In her acclaimed novel (Inter and Walser Awards), Pauly recounts the aftermath of her father’s death. The novel is a tragicomic exploration of grief, family, class, and the complicated bonds between parents and children.
Lit Tea — Fall 2026
Lit Tea — Fall 2026
Come by for snacks & lea with Literature Section friends, instructors, and students.
FUN FACTS
The Literature concentration takes about three approved subjects to complete. Lit concentrators often go on to minoring or majoring in Literature!
During a 1998 talk at MIT titled, “Devil Girl From Mars’: Why I Write Science Fiction” Octavia Butler explained how media inspired her to start writing.
Literature minors can choose to focus their studies on specific literary complexes as well as film, ancient & medieval studies, and more!
William Carlos Williams was an American poet, writer, and physician of pediatrics and general medicine.
