On Comparative Literature

Abstract

This study focuses on issues such as what comparative literature is or not, how it is perceived today, what its benefits are, what kinds of mistakes are made in theory and practice in comparisons of the texts. The term 'literature' has been scene of plentiful discussions from the Greek and Latin civilizations to our age. From philosophical approaches to literary discourses, from poetry to tragedy, from story to novel, and the other literary genre, numerous masterpieces have been written, discussed and criticized. From the East to the West and from the North to the South the writers have been influenced by each other's works, the world has welcomed with an enormous world literature. Thus, comparative approaches, interactions and interests to the texts behind the boundaries across national literatures led to the source of the birth of 'comparative literature' to be discussed in scientific context, to be theorized, and especially flourished during 19th century. Here I want to emphasize inaccuracies in perceptions and practices of comparative literature today, rather than to the historical development of comparative literature as an academic discipline interested in the literature of two or more different languages, cultures or nations.