a larger number of countries, Introduction : Comparative Literature was established in France during the 19 th century as an academic discipline : France 1816 It reached America only during the 20 th century through the German scholars who migrated to America from Hitlers Germany The French School : In the French sense of Comparative Literature, it is the moral responsibility of every French Comparatist to trace and relate the world literary experience to the French literary response because , according to him, the French literature is the backbone of the universal literary system Therefore, they were interested in analysing the external sources and influence of works. In fact, contemporary comparative literature is much more transdisciplinary, spanning other areas such as critical race theory and queer studies. that which is universal and common to allliteratures. Literature, 1. At the same time you will have the opportunity to take courses listed or cross-listed under the Comparative Literature rubric (XL) that further hone your skills as a comparatist, such as Gender and Literature, Literary Translation, Theory of the Novel, or Literature and Empire.. For serious literary scholarship, writes comparatist Geert Lernout of the University of Antwerp, monolingualism is not even a serious option: maybe contemporary writers read and write in only one language, but almost all the great writers of the past did not. Definition of Reception Study Reception Study is another branch of Influence Study which aims at measuring the response to a writer's works abroad, considering the sales, surveys of reviews, criticism, translations, etc. There are three concentrations within the major: National and Transnational Literatures (four courses in each of two languages), Theory, and Globalization. books are Canadian scholar Joseph Pivato is carrying on a campaign to revitalize comparative study with his book, Comparative Literature for the New Century eds. If youre already a lover of languages, chances are you have a deep appreciation for different cultures as well. These courses introduce students to the global diversity of literary forms and genres while acquainting them with the methods of comparative literary study. American, English, Irish, Australian, Canadian, etc. literature is a discipline which bears on facts common to several literatures, Yes, I would like to be contacted about special events, newsletters and program information. For Exceptions, check thePolicy Statement. Students and instructors in the field, usually called "comparatists", have traditionally been proficient in several languages and acquainted with the literary traditions, literary criticism, and major literary texts of those languages. Works written in any other language In this post, well help you better understand what Comparative Literature is and why it builds the case for taking up a foreign language. Comparative Literature and General Literature, 2nd. regardless of the citizenship of the author, Classification is essential to distinguish The As a result, comparative literature programs within universities may be designed by scholars drawn from several such departments. In this program, you will have the opportunity to explore these and related questions., The opportunity to move from the familiar Euro-American literary canons into the fresh but less well-known worlds of African and Asian literature is what attracts most students to this popular MA. 17]; see also David Damrosch[8] nationalliteratures. Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. literature), 2. Comparative literature raises the question of whether you can ever truly study a single, national literature without knowing the foreign languages that influenced it.

Both are basically different but modern literary critics use them as interchangeable terms. Directions Home: Approaches to African-Canadian Literature. phone: (617) 358-5032 email: wll@bu.edu, WLL Lecture Series: New Books in East Asian Lit. The field of Comparative Literature also endeavors, then, to overcome this division between the West and the Rest by combining the formal rigor of European literary studies with the interdisciplinary reach of area studies. As faculty members, students specializing in a national literature may be called on to teach comparative courses or courses in general or world literature. You may count no more than one course toward both a Major and a Sector requirement. It's one way of grouping literature (e.g.,

is English. Literary translations also have their own kind of history and even politics. test of time - Elements of Time, World Literature deals with time and world-honoured literary production of Literature in [citation needed]. In the area of comparative studies of literature and the other arts see Linda Hutcheon's work on Opera and her A Theory of Adaptation. Many comparitists accept all writings produced Most comparative literature curricula teach texts that have been translated into English, while encouraging students to reach foreign texts in the original language alongside their primary reading list or minor in a foreign language. [1] While most frequently practised with works of different languages, comparative literature may also be performed on works of the same language if the works originate from different nations or cultures in which that language is spoken. They explore the connections of literature with history, philosophy, politics, and literary theory. mean much at present, it is time for the era of world literature and everybody For most of the history of literary studies, Lernout points out, knowing more than one language was the norm, not the exception. (even translated) are World Literature. But fundamentally the discipline of Comparative Literature is also a practice, a habit of learning, a way of studying literature, film and culture without arbitrarily stopping at national or linguistic borders. enduring quality, Prior to the advent of the American School, the scope of comparative literature in the West was typically limited to the literatures of Western Europe and Anglo-America, predominantly literature in English, German and French literature, with occasional forays into Italian literature (primarily for Dante) and Spanish literature (primarily for Miguel de Cervantes). In our increasingly globalized age, translation studies are also an important part of the comparative approach to literature. Not only will literature be better for it, but so will politics, philosophy, sociology, gender studies, and the arts. The secondary field in Comparative Literature prepares them to do so by introducing them to basic issues in the field.. Students who are already interested in studying foreign languages, or already have competence in at least one, can choose to pursue a concentration in that language. political values and limitations of an emphasis on global processes over Like the French School, German Comparative Literature has its origins in the late 19th century. I have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Online English self-study + private lessons, Online Spanish self-study + private lessons. Whats lost in translation is also lost in culture. Comparative Literature and World (University of Toronto Press, 2011), Joseph Pivato. ed. problems involving two different literatures: Comparative Literature is trans-national, trans-medial, and transcultural. Traditionally, too, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern literatures (when they were studied at all) were long relegated to the rubric of Area Studies. Kafka

Due to the interdisciplinary and multi-national lens through which it studies its subject matter, explains the University of Saskatchewans Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultural Studies webpage, [comparative literature] is a field of inquiry which has enormous potential to lead to greater global consciousness and sensitivity to the diversity and nature of cultures and the differences and similarities in their codes, languages, literatures, and artistic expression.. A motif is a recurring element in a work of art. [9] These are: Augsburg, Bayreuth, Free University Berlin, Technical University Berlin, Bochum, Bonn, Chemnitz-Zwickau, Erfurt, Erlangen-Nrnberg, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt an der Oder, Gieen, Gttingen, Jena, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Konstanz, Leipzig, Mainz, Mnchen,[10] Mnster, Osnabrck, Paderborn, Potsdam, Rostock, Saarbrcken, Siegen, Stuttgart, Tbingen,[11] Wuppertal. Boston University World Languages & Literatures literature consecrated as great by the English is a common one that encompasses all literature written in English, It is concerned with that which is universal in Rachel Polonsky, English Literature and the Russian Aesthetic Renaissance [Cambridge UP, 1998. According to him 'Influence' should be used to denote the relations existing between finished literary products, Things However, one big part of studying comp lit is to try to understand what gets lost in translation. A language requirement that asks students to begin the journey toward fluency in more than one language marks this fundamental value. For information about the General Education requirements, please visit the College of Arts & Sciences Curriculum page. which excludes Tamil literature produced in countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia The positive study of comparative literature is built on the study of different languages.. considered as such, be it in their mutual interdependence or by analogy./

In close consultation with your advisor you might decide to focus on anything from the modernist novel to Romantic poetry, postcolonial literature, or Greek and Japanese epics. National Literature treats questions confined The world is more interconnected than ever before, meaning information travels faster than ever before. 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. Messages get lost in translation frequently enough within a single language or culture, but across languages and cultures the picture gets even more complicated. Comparative Literature is both an individualized program of study with a high degree of flexibility and a strong cohort of faculty and students with shared interests and values. This will include advanced work in at least one foreign language and its literature and a series of interrelated courses of your choice. considered literature cause their written in English. Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertolt Brecht (Germany), RECEPTION STUDY IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE. The interdisciplinary nature of the field means that comparatists typically exhibit acquaintance with sociology, history, anthropology, translation studies, critical theory, cultural studies, and religious studies.

How much responsibility and power do translators have in this regard? After or in tandem with the introductory courses, students meet with their advisors to put together a program of study that best suits their interests and goals. General Literature is devoted to developments in The point is to analyze the cultural narratives and stories being conveyed throughout history by different cultures. What might the political implications of this be? Unlike other forms of literary study, comparative literature places its emphasis on the interdisciplinary analysis of social and cultural production within the "economy, political dynamics, cultural movements, historical shifts, religious differences, the urban environment, international relations, public policy, and the sciences".[2]. German comparatists working in East Germany, however, were not invited, nor were recognised colleagues from France or the Netherlands. After World War II, the discipline developed to a large extent owing to one scholar in particular, Peter Szondi (19291971), a Hungarian who taught at the Free University Berlin. Szondi welcomed, among others, Jacques Derrida (before he attained worldwide recognition), Pierre Bourdieu and Lucien Goldman from France, Paul de Man from Zrich, Gershom Sholem from Jerusalem, Theodor W. Adorno from Frankfurt, Hans Robert Jauss from the then young University of Konstanz, and from the US Ren Wellek, Geoffrey Hartman and Peter Demetz (all at Yale), along with the liberal publicist Lionel Trilling. elements, General literature is the study and common to allliteratures, Paul Van Tieghem distinguishes Applicants must have an overall GPA of 3.4 and a GPA of 3.6 in Major Related courses. Comparative Literature is a flexible program, allowing students to take courses in a variety of departments in the College. It was introduced by the famous American comparatist, Harry Levin. different nations, Difference between National and One attractive aspect of the Comparative Literature major is its flexibility. to the imitation and Rousseauism - Jacques Rousseau the development of modern political, economic Given developments in the studies of globalization and interculturalism, comparative literature, already representing a wider study than the single-language nation-state approach, may be well suited to move away from the paradigm of the nation-state. The Studying comparative literature could be one way to contribute your personal passions to a global cause. While exploring new horizons and breaking out of the Euro-centric space in which comparative literature has developed so far, the program covers the major theoretical contributions made by Western scholars., The School of International Chinese Studies at East China Normal University accepts applications from international students interested in pursuing a 3-year research-oriented program for a Master degree in Literature.

States, Johann Wolfgang Goethe used the It remains to be seen whether this approach will prove successful given that comparative literature had its roots in nation-based thinking and much of the literature under study still concerns issues of the nation-state. 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 sometimes used their works for this purpose). Elements of Space, World Literature implies

National literature is produced by the people of a state, in the The curriculum in comparative literature has two major objectives: while training students in one literary tradition, it also requires them to be seriously interested in at least two other literatures as well as in the historical, critical, and theoretical problems raised by the study of literature., The Department of Comparative Literature offers Comparative Literature as a secondary field in GSAS to enrich the education of PhD students in other departments who seek to do research and teach across the institutional boundaries of national languages and literatures. diverseliteratures in their relations with one another./ Comparative concept of Weltliteratur in several of his essays in the early decades of the Eckermann published a collection of conversations with Goethe in 1835. It could be Rushdie, Roth, Updike, Gaiman, Tolkien, whoever, But literature and readers have both always ranged outside the boundaries of one national language. by citizens of a particular nation. British poet, Thomas Mann a German novelist moved to the United During the late 19th century, comparatists such as Fyodor Buslaev were chiefly concerned with deducing the purported Zeitgeist or "spirit of the times", which they assumed to be embodied in the literary output of each nation. [7], Work considered foundational to the discipline of comparative literature include Spanish humanist Juan Andrs's work, Transylvanian Hungarian Hugo Meltzl de Lomnitz's scholarship, also the founding editor of the journal Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum (1877) and Irish scholar H.M. Posnett's Comparative Literature (1886). same language but belong to different nations, T S Eliot - an American-born ), and across disciplines (literature and psychology, philosophy, science, history, architecture, sociology, politics, etc.).