Comparative Literature at a Crossroads? An Introduction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12888684 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Weninger (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | xi-xix |
| Publication date | 2006-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Comparative Critical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-1854 • E-ISSN: 1750-0109 |
| Publisher | Edinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3366/ccs.2006.3.1-2.xi |
| OpenAlex | W2081866773 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 1 |
As a discipline, Comparative Literature has always been peculiar.In many respects less a discipline than an inter-discipline or a transdiscipline, if not a meta-discipline -or is it all three packaged into one?-it seems to have neither a clearly delineated subject, nor a distinct methodology (although there is some debate about this), nor even a definable textual corpus.But how could it?Like the physical universe that surrounds us, Comparative Literature's textual universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate, and novel comparative/interdisciplinary constellations are emerging every other day.Am I alone among my colleagues in feeling ever more uncertain about what still belongs to a comparatist's givens, either in terms of methodological premises or sets and classes of texts to be compared?When I was a PhD student in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was occasionally asked by friends or relatives to explain what the field of study called Comparative Literature was all about.At the time I typically resorted to lengthy circumlocutions, describing the discipline's traditional parameters, such as the comparative study of genres, periods, forms and motifs; interart comparison; translation studies; and the problematics of literary mediation and influence, to which was added, more recently, intertextuality.That is, I more or less catalogued the chapter headings typically contained in the many introductions circulating in English, French and German in those days, notably
Art · Comparative literature · Epistemology · Feeling · German · Intertextuality · Linguistics · Literature · Mediation · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Computer Science · Philosophy · Translation Studies and Practices
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2013 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |