Web site: http://philology.karazin.ua/category/department-of-history-of-world-literature-and-classic-philology/

The department’s staff is:

1 professor, 6 associate professors – Candidates of philological science, 4 senior lecturers, 5 lecturers.

The department was founded on the basis of the General Literature Department (1804), that was renamed into West European literature department, as well as on the basis of Greek and Roman literature (1804), renamed into the classical philology department in 1884. Among Kharkiv scholars who are widely known are the president of the University I. Kronenberg ( 1824–1829; 1833–1836), the author of Latin manuals and of “Latin lexicon”, the book unsurpassed till now; Ye. Filomatskyi and R. Gonorskyi, who actively propagandized ancient and West European science and culture as well as the science and culture of our country in the pages of the first Ukrainian journals “Almatea”, “Minevra”, “Ukrainskii visnyk” etc., being their founders, I. Netushil, president of the University during the last pre-revolutionary years, whose arena included Greek and Roman grammar, studying and comments of Latin texts, analysis of Roman historical memorials. The names of such well-known philologists and philologians as Y.M. Belen-de-Balyu, one of the first professors of University of Kharkiv, a member of the Parisian Royal Academy, Academician O.I. Biletskii, O.I. Kirpichnikov, O.G. Rosenberg, P.P. Verbitskii.

The department offers courses, connected with the history of the world literature at Philological Faculty and Foreign Languages Faculty, as well as special courses, connected with classical philology for the restored in 1994 classical department, and also the Latin language course at the humanities faculties, at Biological, Philosophy Faculties, at the Faculty of Law an at the General Medicine Faculty.

Literary courses:

Literature of the Antiquity, Literature of Ancient Greece, Roman literature; Classical mythology; Literature of The Middle Ages and Renaissance; Literature of the XVII-XVIII centuries; Literature of the XIX century; Literature of the end of XIX century – the beginning of XX century, Foreign Literature at school; French Literature of the XX century, German Literature of the XX century; Anglo-American Literature of the XX century; West European literary schools of the XX century.

Linguistic Courses:

Language of Ancient Greece, its morphology and syntax, reading of the original texts; the Latin language, Historical Grammar, its morphology and syntax, reading of the original texts.

The main science problems of the department are specified with the varied specialization of the academic subjects that are provided by this department.

Primarily they are:

1. Development and interaction of the art-aesthetic systems:

a) Comical view in the artistic thinking;

b) Problems of humanism and of the dehumanisation in the world literature;

c) Tendencies and character of the contemporary literature searches;

d) Genesis, specificity and destiny of realism, decadence, modernism, postmodernism;

e) The myth in the literature;

f) Reception of the antique culture in Ukraine (from G.S. Skovoroda till our days);

2. Antiquity and Modernity:

a) Classical mythology antique motifs and themes in the artistic thinking system of the next period;

b) Language of Ancient Greece and the Latin language in the system of the modern lexis;

c) The role of the antique culture in the forming of the Ukrainian culture in different periods of the development of the latter.

There are full-time and part-time graduate school specialized in the literature of foreign countries as well as the institute of the applicants of the same specialization.