Comparative literature (sometimes abbreviated "Comp. lite.") is critical scholarship dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups. While most frequently practiced with works of different languages, it may also be performed on works of the same language if the works originate from different nations or cultures among which that language is spoken. Also included in the range of inquiry are comparisons of different types of art; for example, a comparatist might investigate the relationship of film to literature. Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ...

Overview

Students and instructors in the field, usually called "comparatists," have traditionally been proficient in several languages and acquainted with the literary traditions and major literary texts of those languages. Some of the newer sub-fields, however, stress theoretical acumen and the ability to consider different types of art concurrently, over high linguistic competence.

The interdisciplinary nature of the field means that comparatists typically exhibit some acquaintance with translation studies, sociology, critical theory, cultural studies and history. As a result, comparative literature programs within universities may be designed by scholars drawn from several such departments. This eclecticism has led critics (from within and without) to charge that Comparative Literature is insufficiently well-defined, or that comparatists too easily fall into dilettantism, because the scope of their work is, of necessity, broad. Some question whether this breadth affects the ability of Ph.D.s to find employment in the highly specialized environment of academia and the career market at large, although such concerns do not seem to be borne out by placement data that shows comp. lit. graduates to be hired at similar or higher rates than their compeers in English.[1] Interdisciplinary work is that which integrates concepts across different disciplines. ... Translation studies is the branch of the humanities dealing with the systematic, interdisciplinary study of the theory, the description and the application of translation, interpreting or both these activities. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... In the humanities and social sciences, critical theory has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The title page to The Historians History of the World. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Dilettantism is an idle, often affected, almost always barren admiration and study of the fine arts, in earnest about nothing. ...

Since World War II, there have been three major international conferences in Comparative Literature: in 1965, 1975 and 1993. The published notes from each conference reveal the contested nature of the field, and deal largely with disputes over theoretic rigor, linguistic incompatibility and the fundamental goals of the field. Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ...

Notable English-language comparatists include H.M. Posnett, Susan Bassnett, Charles Bernheimer, Terry Eagleton, Edward Said, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett was a New Zealand scholar who was a pioneer in the field of comparative literature. ... Susan Bassnett is a noted scholar of comparative literature. ... Terry Eagleton (born in Salford, Lancashire (now Greater Manchester), England, on February 22, 1943) is a British literary critic and philosopher. ... Edward Wadie Saïd (Arabic: , transliteration: ; 1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and outspoken Palestinian activist. ... Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24, 1942) is an Indian literary critic and theorist. ...

Early work

The work considered foundational to the field, and the first to be so-titled, was New Zealand scholar H.M. Posnett's Comparative Literature, published in 1886. However, antecedents can be found in the ideas of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose vision of "world literature (Weltliteratur)" was widely cited by Posnett. In addition, the novels of Honoré de Balzac, many of which ruminate on the supposed "nature" of people from different nations, could be interpreted as an early form of comparativism, albeit fictionalized. Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett was a New Zealand scholar who was a pioneer in the field of comparative literature. ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...  , IPA: , (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath. ... World literature refers to literature from all over the world, including American literature, European literature, Latin American literature, Asian literature, African literature, Arabic literature and so on. ... “Balzac” redirects here. ...

During the late 19th Century, comparatists were chiefly concerned with deducing the purported zeitgeist or "spirit of the people", which they assumed to be embodied in the literary output of each nation. Although many comparative works from this period would be judged chauvinistic, Eurocentric or even racist by present-day standards, the intention of most scholars during this period was to increase the understanding of other cultures, not to assert superiority over them (although politicians and others from outside the field used their works for this purpose). Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the German word. ... Eurocentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and, generally, Western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures. ...

French School

In the early part of the 20th century until WWII, the field was characterised by a notably empiricist and positivist approach, termed the "French School", in which scholars examined works forensically, looking for evidence of "origins" and "influences" between works from different nations. Thus a scholar might attempt to trace how a particular literary idea or motif traveled between nations over time. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

American School

Reacting to the French School, postwar scholars, collectively termed the "American School", sought to return the field to matters more directly concerned with literary criticism, de-emphasising the detective work and detailed historical research that the French School had demanded. The American School was more closely aligned with the original internationalist visions of Goethe and Posnett (arguably reflecting the postwar desire for international co-operation), looking for examples of universal human "truths" based on the literary archetypes that appeared throughout literatures from all times and places. Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ...

Prior to the advent of the American School, the scope of comparative literature in the West was typically limited to the literature of Western Europe and North America, predominantly literature in English, German and French literature, with occasional forays into Italian literature (primarily for Dante) and Spanish literature (primarily for Cervantes). One monument to the approach of this period is Erich Auerbach's book Mimesis, a survey of techniques of realism in texts whose origins span several continents and three thousand years. The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak other traditional non-French languages. ... Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly by citizens of Italy. ... Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... The term Spanish literature refers to literature written in the Spanish language, including literature composed in Spanish by writers not necessarily from Spain. ... Cervantes can refer to: Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, a municipality in the Philippines Cervantes, a town in Western Australia Cervantes de Leon, a character in the Soul Calibur series of fighting games This is a... Erich Auerbach (November 9, 1892 in Berlin - October 13, 1957 in Wallingford, Connecticut) was a German philologist and comparative scholar and critic of literature. ... Mimesis (μίμησις from μιμεîσθαι) in its simplest context means imitation or representation in Greek. ... Realism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation. ...

The approach of the American School would be familiar to current practitioners of Cultural Studies and is even claimed by some to be the forerunner of the Cultural Studies boom in universities during the 1970s and 1980s. The field today is highly diverse: for example, comparatists routinely study Chinese literature, Arabic literature and the literatures of most other major world languages and regions as well as English and continental European literatures. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... // [edit] Classical texts Main article: Chinese classic texts China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BCE) and including the Classics attributed to Confucius. ... Arabic literature (Arabic ,الأدب العربي ) Al-Adab Al-Arabi, is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by speakers of the Arabic language. ...

Current developments

Indeed, there is a movement amongst some comparatists to re-focus the field entirely away from the nation-based approach with which it has previously been associated (see Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Death of a Discipline, Columbia University Press, 2004; or Steven Totosy de Zepetnek's framework of comparative cultural studies). These scholars advocate a cross-cultural approach that pays no heed to national borders. It remains to be seen whether this approach will be successful, given that the field had its roots in nation-based thinking and that much of the literature under study was (and is) inspired by issues relating directly to the nation-state. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24, 1942) is an Indian literary critic and theorist. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Comparative Cultural Studies is a field of scholarship where selected tenets of the discipline of comparative literature are merged with selected tenets of the field of cultural studies meaning that the study of culture and culture products -- including but not restricted to literature, communication, media, art, etc. ...

External links

• CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
• CLCWeb Library: web resources for comparative literature and culture studies
• What Was Comparative Literature?
• Comparative Literature Here and Now
• British Comparative Literature Association
• Gruppo04: web resources for comparative literary studies
• A Comparative Literature lecture series at the University of Pennsylvania
• Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania