Comparative literature performs a role similar to that of the study of international relations, but works with languages and artistic traditions, so as to understand cultures from the inside. This course is a space for students to ask questions about languages, culture, and powerand to actively relate them to the concrete, contemporary case study of racial injustice in the united states. Comparative literature definition is the study of the interrelationship of the literatures of two or more national cultures usually of differing languages and especially of the influences of one upon the other. All journal articles featured in comparative literature.
Phenomenology and aesthetics approaches to comparative. Described below are nine common critical approaches to the literature. Thus, comparative approaches, interactions and interests to the texts behind the boundaries across national literatures led to the source of the birth of comparative. A comparative approach to adaptation studies in comparative. The theory of literary comparison would be taught in the literature faculty. Today, american scholars carve out from texts special angles pointing not inwards but outwards, toward other, prevalently nonaesthetic disciplines political, ethnic, racial, genderandsex related, etc. Comparative literature should include the open ended possibility to study literatures. Early on, the discipline was anchored in the comparison of literary works from more than one linguistic tradition. At the same time, students will be introduced to related first principles of comparative literary analysis. A companion to comparative literature presents a collection of more than thirty original essays from established and emerging scholars, which explore the history, current state, and future of comparative literature features over thirty original essays from leading international contributors.
Drawing from these fields, our course will strive to understand how literary texts can function as rich analytical archives of social practices and ritual. An introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama, sixth edition new york. In addition to a significant expertise in postcolonial theory, faculty at penn state conduct research on arabophone, francophone, italophone, anglophone and indian ocean traditions in african literature and criticism. This literature established a of norms and practices for smalln research, proposed alternative. Perspectives on comparative literature lsu digital commons. Hutchenson macaulay posnett, in comparative literature, new. Comparative literary studies in the twentyfirst century.
Speaking elaborately on the syllabi, it may be necessary to make a clearer distinction between introduction to cl and problems of cl. Innovations in the comparative method innovations in the comparative method can be discussed in terms of the issues introduced above, encom passing the goals of comparison, the justification for fixusing on few cases, and the problem of many. Research methods in english and comparative literature. A comparative approach to themes and forms in fiction novel and short story.
Approaches to the study of comparative education awolola 1986 identified eight approaches to the study of comparative education. Comparative literature department of comparative studies. Approaches to comparative literature comparative literature. Thus, comparative approaches, interactions and interests to the texts behind the boundaries across national literatures led to the source of the birth of comparative literature to be discussed. Welcome to the graduate program in comparative literature at harvard university. What scholars in comparative literature share is a desire to study literature be yond national boundaries and an interest in languages so that they can read fo reign texts in their original form. The comparative method david collier comparison is a filndamental tool of analysis. Choose two of the first four texts on our semesters schedule and write a fourtosix page paper that compares the two works of fiction. Without that concern the study of literature can easily became an arid game of trivial fact. And they study the intersections of literature with other cultural forms such as film, drama, the visual arts, music, and new media.
Comparative literature is a holistic study of literature that defies boundaries of nation or language. Collaborative approaches to translation in social change movements, jocelyn d. It will focus on the grecoroman tradition, asking what it means to call a work a classic. Henry remak 19162009 comparative literature is the study of literature beyond the confines of one particular country, and the study of the relationships between literature on one hand and other areas of knowledge and belief, such as the arts e. You might compare the two realists or the two sentimentalists who take different approaches. Comparative research methods frank esser university of zurich, switzerland rens vliegenthart university of amsterdam, the netherlands introduction. Can comparative literature be autonomous or does it have to borrow from other fields and disciplines. Like all other concentrations in comparative studies, this concentration allows students, with the help of their advisers, to design a course of study that suits their particular interests. The purpose of this book is to offer a theoretical and methodological alternative to frameworks presently in. I argue that a comparative approach through a transcultural lens, which. Comparative literature is the laboratory or workshop of literary studies, and through them, of the humanities. Emphasis on crosscultural comparison of literary works.
Amiya dev in his the idea of comparative literature in india 1984, and k. Faculty in the department teach a wealth of courses in african literatures, literary theory and cultures. This is an approach in which other disciplines such as history, philosophy, geography. A companion to comparative literature wiley online books. Fieldwork involving semistructured interviews with child care professionals in these two countries provided information on the. Phenomenology and aesthetics approaches to comparative literature and the other arts. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Comparative literature literature courses selected in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies, one foundational course in comparative literary theory and methodology, two courses in literary theory, methods, or special topics in comparative literature, and a ba thesis workshop that serves as a capstone to the major. This book serves several purposes, all very much needed in todays embattled situation of the humanities and the study of literature.
By method we mean the approach a researcher takes in order to arrive at the argument they are making in their essay or book. Comparative literature juxtapose s literary texts from different languages and cultures. Pdf behdad a companion to comparative literature loren. Project muse comparative literature versus world literature. Methods in english and comparative literature spring 2018 course description behind any research project in the fields of english and comparative literature is method. Download pdf from study to skills all academic programs offered at the um help students develop valuable transferable skills. Provides a critical assessment of the status of literary and crosscultural inquiry. However, once brought over, the interpretation and impact of the law is adapted locally. Perspectives on comparative literature semantic scholar. Features over thirty original essays from leading international contributors. A companion to comparative literature presents a collection of more than thirty original essays from established and emerging scholars, which explore the history, current state, and future of comparative literature.
Over time, it became institutionally far less global in its perspective. Figure 2 provides an overview of these innovations. There are literary thoughts in the concept of comparative literature. Recent dissertations in comparative literature department. Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. The paper presents theses for discussion locating some common cultural denominators in view of the interest of the general practitioner of the discipline. However, even in its most eurocentric and isolationist moments, it is preferable to the cynicism that often motivates the marketbased consumerism that has come to.
We use a thematic approach to comparative literature because we believe that the most important reason for reading literature is to think about the conditions of our own lives. Dissertations in comparative literature have taken on vast number of topics and ranged across various languages, literatures, historical periods and theoretical perspectives. Our academic community is comprised of thirtytwo faculty members and nearly fifty graduate students from across the globe that come here to study, teach, and publish on literatures in several dozen languages from a wide range of. In order to clarify this point of view, we shall first discuss some of the existing. Comparative literature is a center towards which the intellectually adventurous gravitate. In our increasingly globalized age, translation studies are also an important part of the comparative approach to literature. The idea of comparative literature in india deals with how the author conceives of a syllabus containing both cil and cwl. Comparative literature studies linkedin slideshare. George in his anthology comparative indian literature 1984. Pallavi deka buzarboruah department of assamese dibrugarh university, india abstract. A comparative study of methodological approaches to. Hence, comparative literature is the study of interrelationship between any two or more than two significant literary works or literatures. In the past twenty years of a range of new developments in critical theory have changed patterns of reading.
Comparative federalism uses a comparative approach to explore the contemporary nature and meanings of federalism and federation theory of comparative literature pdf. Pdf comparative literature and the question of theory. A historicist approach to mulan and kingstons woman warrior feng lan search for other works by this author on. Origins and evolution of comparative literature and its.
The rourth general principle of comparative literature is its interest to study. Various aspects of literature like linguistic rigor and historical background of the literary texts are helpful for us to compare two or more literary works for comparison. Comparative literature compares literatures, not only as accumulations of primary works, but as the languages, cultures, histories, traditions, theories, and practices with which those works come. Its sphere still affords material for discussion and there is still disagreement as to its method. Elizabeth dahab 1 j chapter one a new comparative literature as theory and method chapter two literature and cultural participation 43 chapter three comparative literature asand interdisciplinarity 79 chapter four cultures, peripheralities, and comparative literature 121 chapter five. The definition of comparative literature given by bijay kumar dass is very simple vivid and understandable. Comparative literature is a flexible interdisciplinary program that examines world literatures across national, historical, and linguistic boundaries. There are comparative literature department in almost all universities. First, in chapter one, the author proposes that the discipline of comparative literature is a most advantageous approach for the study of literature and culture as it is a priori a discipline of crossdisciplinarity and of international dimensions. It frames the introduction within recent theoretical debates and shifts in the discipline whilst also addressing the history of the field and its prac. The best way to pick a theme is to discuss it first with your students.
It connects, say, a poem with dance, a film with the novel, photography with the essay. Comparative approaches studying international literary periods, themes, genres, etc. Is comparative literature able to generate approaches that differ from literary criticism, the history of literature and literary study. The purpose of comparative literature is to cross the border and boundaries of nation, people, customs, behaviours, myths, history, philosophy and social movements.
How to teach thematic comparative literature a curriculum. The department seeks to help each student craft a unique project and find the resources across the university to support. On comparative literature science publishing group. At brown, the department of comparative literature is distinct in its conviction that literary research and instruction must be international in character. Research methodology applied to a comparative case study of. The comparative literature major requires three language courses in a single language at the intermediate. He describes comparative cultural studies as an approach with three areas of theoretical content. Comparative literature 1 comparative literature chair marc redfield comparative literature is the study of literature and other cultural expressions across linguistic and cultural boundaries. In developing diaspora literacy andmarasaconsciousness, i attempted to chart an innovative theoretical approach to texts beyond the typical dyadic relationships so commonly reproduced in comparative literature studies.
Approaches to comparative literature department of. This course draws on a different tradition of use and pragmatism, namely the field of linguistic anthropology and its relationship to literature and the sociology of culture. Download pdf comparative literature free online new. Further, comparative literature includes study of historical and contemporary literary theory and criticism. Arabic literature, produced by native arabs in their homelands and in their chosen or enforced exiles all over the world, as well as by nonarabs who have adopted arabic as a medium of their creative writings, is the outcome of an allembracing. Will the course of the development of comparative literature as a discipline has been slow and difficult. The phrase comparative literature would be reserved to describe criticism which. An introduction to the methods and some major texts of comparative literary study. The simple way to define comparative literature is to say that it is a comparison between the two literatures. Comparative literature definition of comparative literature.
Pdf a call for comparative approach to arabic literature. Students may sometimes directly approach or be approached by related departments regarding teaching opportunities, but must inform the graduate administrator of any tentative assignment they receive in an extradepartmental course, and have that assignment cleared by the director of graduate studies of comparative literature, before accepting it. Can we define the measures and principles that comparative. The phrase comparative literature would be reserved to describe. Pdf towards a comparative approach to arabic literature.
Of course, there continue to be departments or at least centers of comparative literature at the more pres tigious universities in europe and north america, but the changes to the programs formed in the mid20th century by the founding fathers of comparative literature, leo. Reinventing comparative literature my reference point is the latest book of gayatri chakravarty spivak death of a discipline the main focus of this book is how to create a new comparative literature cl in response to the rising tide of multiculturalism and cultural. Comparative literature students who responded to the survey were satisfied with the overall quality of their course destination of leavers from higher education dlhe 2017 100% of comparative literature graduates who responded to the most recent national survey of graduate destinations were in work or further study within six months. Comparative literature performs a role similar to that of the study of international relations, but works with languages and artistic traditions, so as to understand. Comparative literature analyses the similarities and dissimilarities and parallels between two literatures. Comparative literature as it was once conceived no longer exists. Etymologically, the term comparative literature denotes any literary work or works when compared with any other literary work or works. Our discipline takes a transnational, translinguistic, transcultural and transmedial approach to analysis. This course introduces models of comparative analysis across national literatures, genres, and media. Perspectives on comparative literature a thesis submitted to the graduate faculty of the louisiana state university and agricultural and mechanical college in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in the interdepartmental program in comparative literature by alexandru boldor b. This major new introduction to comparative literature is for the students coming to the subject for the first time. Department of comparative literature 4125 dwinelle hall university of california, berkeley berkeley, ca 947202510 phone. Comparative literature began by seeking to engage the known world, albeit with very insufficient tools.
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