Comparative Literature: Historical Development and Key Schools
Foundations of Comparative Literature (CL)
Imitatio and Early Influences
Imitatio (19th discipline, practice old as literature): Writers openly imitated and reworked earlier models. Greek culture provided recurring patterns (exile, metamorphosis…). Thus, imitatio shows that comparison is embedded in literature’s very origins.
- George Smith: Deciphered ancient cuneiform, Akkadian (story of a great flood), which parallels the Book of Genesis in the Bible, sparking debates about Creationism and biblical authority.
- Treaty of Westphalia: Influenced CL by establishing the sovereignty of each state and fostering nationalism.
- Congress of Vienna: Fixed the European order for the next 100 years. All important empires have literary importance.
Philology and French Influence
The Enlightenment, historical progress, the Republic of Letters, and the French Revolution shaped European identity. Madame de Staël argued that literature is shaped by society and politics, not created in isolation. She encouraged cultural exchange between France and Germany, laying foundations for CL, though her view was not fully inclusive (excluding Southern Europe, Asia, or the Middle East). Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt also played a role.
The Sorites Paradox in Culture
The Sorites paradox (the paradox of the heap) questions at what exact point gradual changes constitute a new category (e.g., grains of sand forming a pile). In CL and philology, this applies to distinctions between languages, cultures, and historical periods. Cultural differences emerge gradually through centuries of interaction, migration, religious exchange, and linguistic evolution. Johan Gottfried recognized this problem.
Goethe’s Weltliteratur
Coleridge noted humanity’s innate nature to compare. Goethe introduced the concept of Weltliteratur (World Literature). He believed poetry and literature belong to all humanity, asserting that “national literature” is non-existent. He envisioned a future where books travel across borders, are translated, and influence each other internationally, sharing human creativity despite linguistic differences.
- Chasles: Supported comparison and international exchange, but often placed France above other nations.
- Karl Marx and Engels: Linked literature to economics, suggesting that as capitalism spreads, literature also becomes international.
The first academic chair for CL was established in Lyon, France.
Major Schools of Comparative Literature
The French School (Late 19th Century until WWII)
This school played a central role in shaping the discipline in Europe, represented by figures like Tieghem and Carré. CL became institutionalized in France:
- 1897: Academic chair established in Lyon.
- Baldenspenger founded the Institute of Modern and Comparative Literatures at the Sorbonne.
- 1921: The journal Revue de Littérature Comparée was established.
The French School focused mainly on influence studies. Tieghem’s La littérature comparée promoted binary studies (comparing two national literatures to trace direct influences). Key characteristics included:
- Historical connections between nations.
- Documented influence.
- Focus on literary texts only.
- Large European frameworks.
Criticism
The method was criticized as being too narrow and scientific, treating literature like science by focusing only on facts, documented sources, and cause-and-effect relationships. Critics argued this reduced comparison mainly to influence studies, failing to ask deeper questions about meaning, aesthetics, ideology, and cultural change.
The American School (Post-WWII)
While the French model emphasized influence studies and historical documentation, the USA developed a different vision: more open, interdisciplinary, and less restricted to sources between national literatures. Key figures included Wellek and Levin.
The American School featured:
- Greater international and intellectual diversity due to varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds of scholars.
- Strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity.
- Focus on universal values and shared human themes.
- A multilingual and multicultural approach.
- Freedom to analyze texts through different theoretical frameworks.
American comparatists sought to expand the discipline, encouraging broader theoretical reflection to understand how literature expresses universal human concerns across cultures.
German Influences
German scholarship historically focused on tracing deeper cultural roots (language, myths), stemming from Germany’s history as many states united by a common language and tradition. German scholars were interested in common linguistic and spiritual foundations. Adolf Hitler politically distorted this cultural focus (e.g., banning Shakespeare). After WWII, German scholars made new contributions, focusing on motifs, topics, myths, and folktales.
The ‘Death’ and Transformation of CL
Shifting Paradigms
In 1993, Susan Bassnett suggested CL was in decline, arguing the field had lost identity and been absorbed into broader areas like cultural studies and translation studies. In Death of a Discipline (2003), Spivak claimed traditional CL was disappearing, but emphasized that comparison itself was not dying. Instead, the old Eurocentric model needed transformation to become more attentive to non-Western languages, postcolonial contexts, and global inequalities. This ‘death’ signals a necessary transformation.
Related Fields
- Translation Studies: Comparison across languages requires translation, which inherently alters the original text. Translation Studies emerged as a serious academic field, recognizing translation as a form of close reading, moving beyond viewing translation as merely an inferior imitation.
- Reception Studies: Examines how texts are interpreted and reused over time—how later cultures “receive” earlier ones. This relates to the historical debate between the Ancients and the Moderns regarding literary superiority. Roman authors reworking Greek texts is a prime example.