Comparative literature

From Freepedia

Comparative literature (sometimes abbreviated Comp. lit.) is critical scholarship dealing with the literatures of several different languages. Students and instructors in the field, usually called comparativists, are typically proficient in several languages and acquainted with the literary traditions and major literary texts of those languages. Comparativists often work in university programs or departments of comparative literature (in institutions with such programs), though many scholars with training in comparative literature also work in other departments related to their particular expertise, such as specific language departments.

Before ca. 1960, the scope of comparative literature in the West was typically limited to the literature of Western Europe and North America, predominantly literature in English and German and French literature, with occasional forays into Italian literature (primarily for Dante) and Spanish literature (primarily for Cervantes). One monument to the approach of this period is Erich Auerbach's book Mimesis, a survey of techniques of realism in texts whose origins span several continents and three thousand years.

The field today, in contrast to the former model, has become highly diverse: for example, comparativists routinely study Chinese literature, Arabic literature, and the literatures of most other major world languages and regions as well as English and continental European literatures.

Literary theory is popular in many departments of comparative literature, perhaps even more so than in English studies. However, many exceptions exist, and a more textual, less philosophical approach to literary criticism is practiced alongside theory in all comparative literature departments.