Comparative History Of Literatures Research Articles

Comparative Literature and its theoretical Dimensions


 
 
 Comparative Literature examines the aspects of convergence among the literatures in their different languages and many images of their links in the present or past, and impacts of these historical links and their manifestation, whether they are related to the general artistic assets of the literary genres or literary schools or intellectual currents or to the nature of the topics, attitudes and peoples that are treated and simulated in the literature or they belong to the issues of the technical drafting and partial ideas in the literary work or belong to the different images of the country reflected in the literature of the other nations, as the technical connections that link the peoples and nations on the basis of humanitarian relations that vary depending on the images and the writers. On the base of the definition of comparative literature it was better to be called (Comparative History of Literature) or (History of Comparative Literature), but it became famous by the label of (Comparative Literature), which is a designation lacks its significance, but the summarized label was easy so it deceived on every other label. In this article we will try to mention some fundamental and contemporary trends in Comparative Literature. 
 
 

Historicizing Comparative Literature in the Postcolonial Era

This paper brings up the history of comparative literature from its beginning to the postcolonial era, discussing the challenges and controversies that have shaped the history of the discipline and practice. Drawing mainly upon Edward Said’s thought, but also other prominent theorists, the paper sketches the evolution of the concept of comparative literature on the one hand, and on the other hand, it shows through some recent examples of transnational and transcultural questions, how difficult it is in the contemporary context of Globalization to preserve the nation as a space and concept of reference for the writing of the history of literature, due to the very fact of the transformation of the nation and its contours in recent decades. It is also about showing that despite the circulation of worlds and the challenge of the nation’s rigid borders by the process of migration among others, the nation is not yet disqualified as a framework and substructure for literary production. It further discusses the relationship between literature and nation in the contemporary context as well as the issues of transnationality and world literariness, using two examples from France and Nigeria.

Canons as Reservoirs: The Ottoman Ocean in Ziya Pasha's Harabat and Reframing the History of Comparative Literature

This article analyzes the introduction of Ziya Pasha's Ottoman anthology Harabat (AH 1291–1292 [1874/1875–1875/1876]), which provides a comparative history of Arabic, Turkish, and Persian literatures. I argue that Harabat compiles texts from diverse geographical and temporal origins and, instead of defining them as members of distinct national traditions, projects this compilation as what I call a literary “reservoir” that constitutes the multilingual Ottoman canon. My argument draws upon Ziya Pasha's characterization of the Ottoman culture as an “ocean” that encompasses Arabic, Persian, and Turkish “streams.” This description undermines the typical scholarly view that the Ottoman culture emerged and developed under Arabic and Persian influences. I then reframe our understanding of canonization through using the conceptual repertoire that the world literature scholarship has brought into literary studies—circulations, target culture, and source culture. Building upon John Guillory's work on the process of canon formation, I propose that each source text can be “deracinated” when its context is ignored in the target culture to facilitate this text's incorporation into a new canon, or “reservoir.” This article finally calls for rewriting the history of comparative and world literature by demonstrating that Harabat is constitutive of the nineteenth-century comparative literature paradigm.

CATEDRÁTICOS, GUERRAS E GENTES: NOTAS SOBRE LITERATURA COMPARADA E A PESQUISA NO BRASIL

Este artigo busca refletir sobre a história da Literatura Comparada como disciplina e sua consolidação na universidade brasileira, abrangendo seus temas, suas inter-relações e os desafios a serem enfrentados pelo pesquisador comparatista contemporâneo.

Kushner, Eva (ed.). L’époque de la Renaissance. Tome III. Maturations et mutations (1520–1560). Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2011. 636 pp. (A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXVI)

Article Kushner, Eva (ed.).L’époque de la Renaissance. Tome III. Maturations et mutations (1520–1560). Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2011. 636 pp. (A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXVI) was published on June 1, 2015 in the journal arcadia (volume 50, issue 1).

Az összehasonlító irodalomtudomány és a klasszikusok

The fact that the ICLA’s book series, the comparative history of literatures in European languages, took the Renaissance as its point of departure suggests that the timespan of comparative literature does not go back further than that period. David Damrosch’s definition of world literature, however, includes all the classics as texts read outside their original culture. For a comparative approach we do not need to compare the classics to a different (e.g. modern or a non-European ancient) kind of literature: since all the western literary cultures developed some kind of relationship to the classics, they can be discussed as a code of western literature, which may make them a „language” of comparison.

Literary History in Transnational Mode: The Challenges of Writing a History of East-Central European Literatures

As Priscilla Wald notes in her comments on A New Literary History of America, edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors (2009), “Literary history is not at all a dead activity. Genres, like disciplines, are dynamic, as is the concept of the literary.” As she explains further, the guiding principle of A New Literary History of America is prismatic, assembling various disciplinary perspectives and offering a “carnival of style, voice, and topic.” The various chapters in it “function as individual vignettes, moments in time that readily form connections to other vignettes and help the reader see constellations among eras.”1 The prismatic, multicultural, and to some extent multimedia model of literary history that Wald describes has been applied in a few recent histories, including A Comparative History of Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula, edited by Fernando Cabo Aseguinolaza, Anxo Abuin Gonzalez, and Cesar Dominguez, and History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe which I coedited with John Neubauer.2 The latter work, published in four volumes between 2004 and 2010, attempts a comprehensive transnational study of the cultural and literary region that stretches from the Baltic countries to Bulgaria and Albania and from Ukraine and Moldova in the east to the Czech Republic in the west. Representing the joint work of more than 120 contributors from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia, this project, sponsored by the International Comparative Literature Association, is not a chronological narrative, but an experiment in writing literary history that acknowledges ruptures as well as transnational connections. Hence the project’s subtitle: Conjunctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Cultural Mobility: A Manifesto

Cultural Mobility: A Manifesto

A Comparative History of Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula

A Comparative History of Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula

Romantic Prose Fiction by Gerald Gillespie , Manfred Engel , Bernard Dieterle (review)

320 Reviews The letters tellthestory of howRuskin gradually madeovertherunning, management , and evenownership of Brantwood toJoannaand herhusband Arthur Severn. 'Letters from Ruskin toJoanhaveonlypreviously beenpublished as excerpts and are not generally availableforresearch'(p. 4). The editorsof theLibraryEditionof Ruskin's works included onlya handful of theseletters, and theyfailedto keepthe idiolect, perhaps outofconcern for Ruskin's reputation. Thisreviewer, likeDickinson, finds theletters endearing rather thanembarrassing. Forinstance, Ruskin writes that he'wants hisdimatotakecareofhismoney for him' (p.215).He asks Joannato'please[. . .] beginkeeping mypockywocky money fornext year'(p.217).In Letter 210hesigns off: 'Me's oospoo oldDonie- ' (p.223).In Letter 206heshows hispoeticside: Ohdima,ifI only could build 00a palace with diamond windows andgolden doors, andput on a story [sic] every birth day, asthe shells dointhe sea,andfill itwith music like the seashells. and have my dimatosing tomeupatthe top. (p.218) Ruskin asks Joanna:'fot soodvehavedonetounderstand eachovyifvee'dnevy learnt babytawk?' (p.214). With its'Idiolectical Glossary' anda Chronology, this volume ofletters maybe seen tocontribute towhatone maycallRuskin's 'autobiography', including comments on painting, onfigures, someofthem public ones,andontheevents ofhisownlife. Rachel Dickinson has therefore performed an unusual,useful, and interesting service. The letters shedlighton Ruskin's ownpersonality and psychology, and on howhe saw himself. He insisted that noneofhisletters toJoannabe destroyed, which suggests that he mayhaveconsidered themtobe a partof his'autobiography', tocomplement or supplement whatDickinson describes as the'crafted andcensored' Praeterita. King'sCollege London WilliamGoldman Romantic Prose Fiction. EditedbyGerald Gillespie,ManfredEngel, and Bernard Dieterle. A Comparative History of Literatures in EuropeanLanguages,23. Amsterdam andPhiladelphia: Benjamins. 2007.xxi+ 733pp.€198.00; US$297.00. isbn:978-90-272-3456-8. Collections ofessays dealing with European Romantic culture facesomething ofa challenge :thetopicisdifficult tomap,thedatesoftheso-called 'period'aredisputed and inconstant flux, andthe'movement' continually crosses linguistic, generic, anddisciplinary borders. Asa result, suchvolumes canfallintooneoftwotraps: either they seek toencompass broader trends andendup lacking inclosetextual readings, orthey are sosharply focused that they maybe oflimited appealtomoregeneral readers. Atover 700pages,this volume ofthirty-six essays, together with an Introduction andConclusion ,is morethancomprehensive and makesa goodattempt at circumventing such pitfalls. The fact that thecollection belongs toanintegrated sub-series - theothers are dedicated toRomantic irony, drama, poetry, andnon-fictional prose- helpstoensure that nosingle volume takes ontoomuch. The collection openswith lengthy editorial deliberations, which track thegenesis of theprojectthatgave riseto thevolumeand also,moreusefully, offer conceptual YES, 40.1 & 2, 2010 321 reflections on thesub-series, theposition of thevolumewithin it,and therationale behindthebook'sinternal organization. The essaysare dividedintothreesections, dealing with Romantic prosethemes, thebroadnotion ofparadigms (including representative texts, issues ofgenre, andnarrative technique), andthelaternineteenthand twentieth-century reception of Romantic proseanditsinfluence on laterthought and writing. Throughout thesesections thediscussions traverse the Romanticproseof Germany, France, andEngland, although they alsochart thelegacy left bythis writing inScandinavia, Spain,LatinAmerica, andJapan.Similarly diverse isthetreatment of other mediaanddiscourses, or, more precisely, their intersection with thegenres, themes, andtechniques ofprose, suchas MihálySzegedy-Maszák's study ofrepresentations of the'sister arts'ofmusic andpainting inRomantic prose.Setagainst this richbackdrop are theessaysone might expect, although theyremainessential: thereare thematic contributions, suchas Gerhart Hoffmeister's analysis of howinternational Romantic prosetreats explicitly (Victor Hugo)andimplicitly (Goethe) theprogression andfailure of theFrench Revolution; and MonikaSchmitz-Emans's discussion of theirrational realms of madnessand dream,whichshowshowRomantic prosedealingwithsuch issues laidthefoundations ofkeyaspects of modern thought andwriting, suchas the rejection of'anysuperior levelofreasoning from which onecoulddistinguish between truth andlies'(p.165). Therearegeneric studies, suchasManfred Engel'sremarkably clearandlinear study ofthelabyrinthine genre oftheBildungsroman, andalsolessobvious discussions, suchas GeraldGillespie's treatment ofthecrime novel:whilecrime inliterature was'nothing new',Romantic proseinSpain,England, andelsewhere becametheforum for'a new genre inwhich crime fighters andcrime solvers werecentral' (p.345).Thevolume's third section is particularly illuminating, as shownbyElaineMartin's study of cinematic makesand re-makes of Romantic literary works, and Takayuki Yokota-Murakami's discussion of thecomplex reception and influence of EuropeanRomantic writing in Japan,characterized bybothenthusiasm andrejection, as thatnation openeditself to Western culture inthecourseofthenineteenth century. Sucha wideandinternational focus tiesinwiththeeditors' aims.AstheConclusion states, thevolume doesnotseek toimply that readings ofRomanticism as expressions ofnational experience arewholly irrelevant orevenspurious; rather, itsintention isto'explore strands ofliterary experiencethat often werecommon ona larger regional scale'(p.700). The texts arelucid, readable, andcontain valuablecontributions that simultaneously offer anoverview oftheir material, drawtogether important threads ofscholarship, and re-frame discussions infresh contexts. SabineRossbach, forexample, offers a fascinating sweepof the notionof 'mirroring' in English,GermanRomanticand postRomantic proseembracing E. T. A. Hoffman, Coleridge, and Poe: whilst...

Romantic Prose Fiction, vol. XXIII of Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages

Romantic Prose Fiction, vol. XXIII of Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages

The horizons of romanticism, two centuries later

The story of the Romanticism sub-series of the Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages illustrates the need for collaborative team efforts such as have actually been promoted by the International Comparative Literature Association to cope more adequately with the complexities of transnational cultural constellations over time. From its inception, the Romanticism sub-series has exhibited a spirit of pragmatic engagement, a will to proceed from concrete examples of literary works and cultural discourses, rather than to impose supposed norms based on pre-agreed paradigms or to privilege today’s theorizing over the past. The cooperation among some 100 researchers from some two dozen countries has yielded an intellectually open picture of how a multifaceted heritage gathers momentum and is blended into the flow of a larger cultural poly-system.

Nonfictional Romantic Prose: Expanding Borders (review)

Reviewed by: Nonfictional romantic prose: Expanding borders ed. by Steven P. Sondrup and Virgil Nemoianu Pere Gifra-Adroher Nonfictional romantic prose: Expanding borders. Ed. by Steven P. Sondrup and Virgil Nemoianu. (Comparative history of literatures in European languages 18.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004. Pp. 477. ISBN 158811452X. $238 (Hb). Even though much of the best romantic writing present in the literary canon has been traditionally and predominantly circumscribed to poetry, over the past two decades many critics and scholars have turned their attention to a handful of lesser genres hitherto considered unworthy of critical scrutiny. The twenty-four essays collected here contribute to a textually richer notion of romanticism not only by examining multiple forms of nonfictional prose, but above all by doing so also from a comparatist perspective that illuminates the crosscultural nature of this movement. Virgil Nemoianu opens the volume with an introduction that charts the breadth of the terms romantic and romanticism; then several sections follow, each devoted to the main types of nonfictional prose writing. The longest in the book, Part 2, tackles romantic theoretical and critical prose. It begins with Monika Schmitz-Emans’s analysis of romanticism from a historical and transnational perspective, and continues with John Isbell’s argument on how romanticism was disavowed by some of its very originators. Gerhart Hoffmeister, on the one hand, and Manfred Engel and Jürgen Lehmann, on the other, subsequently study the influence of Hegel and German Idealism in European romanticism. To close this section Mary Anne Perkins reviews theoretical texts influential in the reassessment of several national languages and literatures, and Carolyn Buckley-Larocque probes the ethnological discourse behind Sir Walter Scott’s project of Scottish cultural recovery. Part 3, on political writing, features an essay by Michael Gassenmeier and Jens Martin Gurr that traces the influence of Edmund Burke’s conservatism, and another one where Steven P. Sondrup examines how the Scandinavian countries resorted to their ancient mythologies in their nation-building processes. In the geography-based Part 4, Mircea Anghelescu dissects the genre of the travel narrative, while Joselyn M. Almeida surveys the nonfiction produced in Spanish America between 1780 and 1850 and how it contributed to raising its independent consciousness. Two further sections focus on private and public matters. The genres that most relevantly developed the notion of romantic subjectivity are tackled in Part 5: Frederick Garber first examines the role of diaries, Eugene Stelzig then explores the autobiography, and Carol Strauss Sotiropoulos and Margaret R. Higonnet finally investigate several minor textual forms like teaching tracts, letters, and treatises that were used to shape women’s social roles. In contrast to this concern with the self, Part 6 expands toward the public sphere. While Frederick Garber considers the importance of the familiar essay, John Boening, Madison U. Sowell, and Monica Spiridon, respectively, concentrate on the periodicals, almanacs, and pamphlets that played such an important role in shaping civic opinion. Equally important was the short sketch, whose influence [End Page 231] in Spain and other European countries José Manuel Losada discusses. Relevant examples of scientific and artistic prose fall under scrutiny in Part 7. Alan Richardson and Joel Black document the connections between romanticism and early psychological and cognitive studies; Gerald Gillespie and Steven P. Sondrup likewise provide separate readings of significant texts on music and the visual arts. Finally, Part 8 concentrates on religious writings: Virgil Nemoianu examines several movements of theological renewal undertaken in the early nineteenth century, stressing their links to the aesthetic category of the beautiful, and José Manuel Losada in turn offers a comparative analysis of the myth of the fallen angel. Romanticism, as Virgil Nemoianu argues in the conclusion, was a turbulent yet extremely fertile cultural movement that, despite its contradictions, had a far-reaching impact beyond elitist circles. If its influence still remains so visible in today’s popular culture, it is not only...

Comparative Literary History as an Elitist Metanarrative

It is an ambiguous comfort to know that we are still debating the grand issues that were in the foreground when the International Comparative Literature Association was founded half a century ago as an offshoot from the Federation Internationale des Langues et Litteratures Modernes. FILLM’s Fifth Congress in 1951, focusing then exclusively on the European, considered modern literatures “in their relations with the fine arts” over a series of supposed great cultural and/or stylistic periods starting from the late Middle Ages. FILLM’s Sixth Congress in 1954, the birth year of ICLA, dealt with “Literature and Science” over a comparable series of supposed epochs in intellectual and technological history. Noticeable on the methodological front in 1954 are the decline of positivistic historicism and, in juxtaposition, the triumph of newer psychology and anthropology plus the first inroads of linguistic structuralism. FILLM’s Ninth Congress in 1963 grappled with the task of relating “Literary History and Literary Criticism”, pursued all the basic epistemological questions therefrom resultant, and introduced the comparison of Asian and European approaches, while giving some consideration to the particularities of other regions. This expansion of horizons by FILLM occurred just four year’s before the daughter organization ICLA approved the creation of the series A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages. Does all this sound familiar? And here we are again, in the aftermath of postmodernism and poststructuralism, and constructivism, various -isms and post-isms which have meanwhile come and gone; but we are generally unable to believe in the death of literature, the arts, history, or even science – dyings often proclaimed in recent decades in European and Euro-American circles. ICLA has sailed on despite America’s and Europe’s postmodern and other doubts and pioneered the investigation of huge intraand inter-regional complexes of cultural and literary life; and the CHLEL series has acted as the ice-breaker of the ICLA flotilla, ploughing forward to demonstrate how much can be achieved in actual practice. But despite evident pride in these advances we do feel certain misgivings. Scholars involved in the CHLEL series are perhaps foremost among

Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages: The Bellagio report

Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages: The Bellagio report

The place of romanticism within the “comparative history of literatures in European languages”

The place of romanticism within the “comparative history of literatures in European languages”