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Bassnett, Susan. 1993. Comparative - Literature - A - Critical Introduction (Int.)

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Sabrina Marinoni
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229 views6 pages

Bassnett, Susan. 1993. Comparative - Literature - A - Critical Introduction (Int.)

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Sabrina Marinoni
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Introduction: What is Comparative Literature Today? Sooner of ater, anyone who clans to be working in comparative literature has to re answer the inevitable question: What is it? Thc hmpletarswersthatcomparative erature involvesthe study scan cross cultures that i inerdsciplinary and that ic hacrned with patterns of connection in erates across both time and spac "Most oopledonot stat with comparative erature they end wii sme na o oer, raving foward om ferent Js of departure Sometnes the journey begins with a deste Rin beyoed the boundares ofa single set area tat might tear fe be foo constsning, at oter times a eadee may Be iMate ofollow up what appa: o be snsaie bree texts oom fcr cltral context. And some readers may iy beollowing the view propounded by Mathew Arpldiakis Inaugural Lectare at Oxford in 1857 whe he sid Everywhere there is connection, everywhere ther isillastration, No single event, no singe Iterature is adequately comprehended exeept in elation to other evens, to other Ineratres! Ik could almost be argued that anyone who has an interest in books embarks on the road towards what might be termed com> parative literature: reading Chaucer, we come across Boccaccio; We ‘can trace Shakespeare's source materials through Latif Spanish and Italian; we can study the ways in which developed across Europe at a similar moment in timey process through which Baudelaire’ fascination with oc enriched his own writing, consider how many E Introduction ineteenth-century Russian writers earned from the grt i intra. Bet compare how James Joyce borrovred (ron Ietion Of aio Svevo. When we read Clarice Lispector we ma poetry isthe common property ofall mankind It this juncture, one could be forgiven for assuming that com paratvelitrerursothing more than common sense, an inevitable Paget reading, made increasingly easier by international marke ff Boks and by the svat of translation, Bu fe hg ad lok again ate term ‘Compara eee isteach of vere ack Meier cnage of oer arcne egunet cary and coos sl ray. Crnce se head ofthe wentieth century, in the age of post-n with the same questions that were po» n Whats the object of scudy in comparative literature comparison be the object oF a Have canon, what might a comparative canon be? How does the {Gomparatis select what to compare? Is comparative literature Aiscpine? Or isisimply afield of study? These anda great many ther questions refuse ogo away, and sinc the 1950s we hae been Dearingall too frequently about what René Wellek defined asthe rss of Comparative Literature’ Comparative literature asa term seems to arouse stong passions Both for and agains As early as 1903, Benedero Croce argued Hit comparative lierature was « non subjct, contemptuous ismising the suggestion that it might be scen as a separate pie. He discussed the deition of comparative crates Fhe Splration ofthe vicsitudes,alertions, developments and iferences'ofthemes and literary ideas across iterates Ad concluded that ‘there is no study more acid than researches of {hisson’ Thiskind of work, Croce maintained ist be lassied 0 eategory oferudtion purely and simply" Instead of something, be i 3 Introduction he proper object of se comparative iterate he suggested tar ne NOP cas ld be iterary history sae terary wotk, e Me ever be paced posed ial seh a the or ory (whore ee cou " te Crocs argument a eu that i the fac that thet abject of study was sry ive made by scholars such a8 Max oun leichende Literatur (1887-1910) and St Zetsco Tpenden Literaturgeschichte( 1901-9), Croce claimed Fee ee stnguish between literary history pure and simple He teamparaivelterary history. Theteem, ‘comparativeliteratute fe maintained, had no substance toi ‘ een il Gayle, one of he oundes of North AMEE Sack that the working premise of the student of comparative ‘oral and linguistic ufluences, opportunities, and testitions Bul irespectve of age or guise, prompted by te common meeda sad sspirauons of man, sprung from common faculties, psychological and physiological, and obeying common laws of material and mode, ofthe individal and socal humanity markably siniae sentiments 10 those expressed in 1994 by Frag os, when he clamed that “non erate campy «oom an eligi fl of stuly because of ari limited perspective’, and that comparative iefcaaai fe J studentsin the bu Sach aims go fon guite why the d so ber For Jost ; we Tha there Was hat the readers take up grea works ; ren nth harmony and the comp fc ores on wheter te thar harmony. Mozeover, eed rom te reves Mills Wellek 2nd W ae a Eppeared in 1949, sugsest ase lngunic profcence Sno un espe ‘a kind of internat Ss mn ns ps a ‘ ane Faratures of united nat ; Feta, in Japan and a i eteeisone oar ase ee fel aires ¥ ici Goethe could confident! rie f national teat ‘national literature means W ¥ offered the ata cquvalen sna Uae much Second World War deplored by the Ane ta Thind Wool ana The high ideals of such a vi literature haw Faas ie ox . oe . mot been met. A decade after T. ed, Wellek ge ast fe ee weal ling aot ait es eccr ce econ inthe 1S6teaad lier n India's cety linked tothe ise of modern Indian ee cildaeady be sen. The great waves of crite thought that mtionlis, noting that comparauve iterature has bee "used £0 that comparative i Introduction a eked compris aan yh Fe a ar nkars t ee Fan arate ae See Mipet Indian scholars call western literature, repardag et ies te eieenee eee ee toman matrices via Christianity, and he terms Eociee eet om Dok Beef the discourse of national literature. Accustomed sv Sasjorg” versus minority” Ineratures, the Indian p : Glad by Majuridat a stating one. Hom Bhabhe suns the new emphasis in an essay discussing the ambivalence of post lontal culture, suggesting that. : ating across of soil semi Gscipinary sense of ‘Cultral reference and “Developments in comparative literature beyond Europe and North America do indeed cut through and across all kinds of assumptions about literature that have come increasingly to be seen 4s Eurocentric. Wole Soyinka and a whole range of African erties Ihave exposed the pervasive influence of Hegel, who argued that Airican culture was ‘weak’ in contrast to what he claimed were higher; more developed cultures, and who effectively denied Africa history James Snead, in an essay attacking Hegel, points out that areata rcs eraryBaropcan cai Taesapgectoclaon wi ast care’ The nh) may Hho logis Sacre theses ols casey theta eo, ado elo tha ine spraton berms Sire ar ehapral hong not onc of aa br oOo What wehave today th then, ia very varied picture of comparative literary studies that changes according to where i i aking ple Afoea, odin, Caribbean crits have challenged the rfasa of seat deal of Western literary criticism to accep the implications of on has argued that vy Easltve inherited if a = word Which the emergence of are, he a Ss he way in WHI cy had gE ses ad ch ee fe tin eel ear bcaoT ed de vat sal Can sh vests ath of the ist World War Introduction cultural poiy ai te pean clog a wich Engle ‘Lite de to power on the with it aenaRe 0 oe ee English Literature p represe ‘he Geet Wat $oy evi thived back of wart on the part of che English % spinal solions

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