5. The futures of comparative literature

Comparative literature is both central and marginal to literary studies: central because it draws on almost every discipline in the Humanities; marginal because it is not tied to any single tradition, risking being ignored by all of them. For all its past struggles and present debates, comparative literature has an increasingly central role to play in the Humanities’ future. ‘The futures of comparative literature’ explains that in this age of specialists, generalists continue to play a vital role in shaping and supporting the life of the mind. International, interdisciplinary forms of knowledge remain the very essence of modernity. Now more than ever, the aesthetic education of comparative literature is indispensable.

3. History and heroes

Seen from a Western perspective, the history of comparative literature can be divided into three categories: how European literatures have been compared inside Europe; how European literature has been compared with other cultures outside Europe; and how literatures outside Europe have been compared among themselves. ‘History and heroes’ explains how from the empire building of the 19th century, via the Jewish diaspora of the 20th century, to the postcolonial culture wars of the 21st century, the problems and prejudices of comparative literature have formed a cultural counterpart to the problems and prejudices of modernity. To understand its history, in this spirit, is to understand why it matters.

1. Metaphors of reading

‘Metaphors of reading’ asks—What is comparative literature? How does it differ from literature? And why and how does one become a comparatist? Almost every comparatist has a different idea of how and what to compare, and a different set of priorities. The only consensus is on the inherent instability of the term. This instability is the very essence of comparative literature. By looking at literature comparatively one realizes how much can be learned by looking beyond one’s own tradition; one discovers more not only about other literatures, but also about one’s own; and one participates in the great utopian dream of understanding the way cultures interact.

4. Disciplines and debates

Since the 1960s, comparative literature has splintered into a range of competing disciplines. In order to most accurately gauge its place within the Humanities today, ‘Disciplines and debates’ considers the various incarnations of comparative literature in neighbouring disciplines, including literary theory, cultural studies, postcolonialism, world literature, translation studies, and reception studies. It looks at each area, explaining how the growth of literary theory and cultural studies, in particular, helps us understand the growth of comparative literature. Since the turn of the millennium, the role of world literature as a model of comparison has come to the fore while translation remains the prerequisite for and the very practice of comparative literature.

2. Practices and principles

‘Practice and principles’ asks what it means to ‘do’ comparative literature. A number of basic principles can be identified as constitutive of comparative literature’s disciplinary practice and they can be considered as conceptual pairs: topics versus methods; periods versus regions; close versus distant reading; the canon versus the counter-canon; genres versus styles; and writers versus readers. When considering the practices and principles of comparative literature, it is important to consider them from the perspective of both creators and critics. This double perspective is emerging as a focal point for the discipline. Readers cannot compare without writers, and writers cannot compare without reading.