Susan Bassnett's analysis of the Current State of Comparative Literature Studies
What is Comparative Literature Today?
Name: Jheel Barad
Roll No.: 12
Enrollment No.: 4069206420210003
Paper no: 208
Paper code: 22415
Paper name: Comparative Literature and Translation Studies
Sem.: 4 (Batch 2021- 2023)
Submitted to: Smt S.B. Gardi Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University
[Reading and comprehending original articles by scholars can be a daunting task, and I found it especially challenging while preparing for my exam. To alleviate this stress, I have simplified the article based on my understanding and with the assistance of ChatGPT. I have attempted to present the information in simple and easy-to-understand language. This blog is geared toward exam preparation and aims to provide a clear understanding of the article's core ideas and concepts. However, it's important to note that if you want to gain a deep understanding of the topic, reading the original article is highly recommended. CLICK HERE FOR BLOG I (it has quotes in the language of the original article)]
What is Comparative Literature?
The simplest answer is that comparative literature involves the study of texts across cultures is interdisciplinary and is concerned with patterns of connection in literature across both time and space.
People often come to study comparative literature from different paths. Some want to explore beyond the limits of a single subject, while others are intrigued by the similarities between texts or authors from different cultures. Some may simply follow Matthew Arnold's belief that studying literature comparatively is valuable.
‘Everywhere there is a connection, everywhere there is an illustration, No single event, no single literature is adequately comprehended except in relation to other events, to other literature.'
When we read books, we often encounter references to other authors and works from different cultures. This can lead to a natural curiosity and interest in comparative literature, as we begin to make connections and see how different writers and traditions influence each other. The German writer Goethe believed that poetry was a shared human experience, and encouraged readers to explore literature from different parts of the world. Ultimately, comparative literature is about exploring the connections and resonances between different texts and cultures.
Comparative literature is not just common sense. Despite the ease of access to international literature and translations, the history of the term is marked by debates about its focus and purpose. Critics have questioned what the object of study is, how to define a comparative canon, and whether comparative literature is a field of study or a discipline. These debates have continued from the 19th century to the present day, to what Rene Wellek defined as the ‘crisis of Comparative Literature.’
Comparative literature has been a subject of debate and controversy for over a century. Benedetto Croce, a scholar from 1903, argued that comparative literature was not a separate discipline and that the proper object of study should be literary history. He claimed that the term 'comparative literature' was misleading and that it lacked substance. Other scholars, such as Max Koch, also contributed to the debate. Despite these arguments, comparative literature remains a field of study and continues to generate discussions and debates among scholars.
Charles Mills Gayley saw comparative literature as a study of literature that transcends boundaries such as language, culture, and history, and connects different works of literature through their commonalities as expressions of universal human thought and experience. He believed that despite differences in social conditions, individual perspectives, and other factors, literature reflects the common needs and aspirations of humanity and is shaped by universal psychological and physiological processes. Thus, comparative literature, for Gayley, was a means of understanding literature as a medium that unites all of humanity.
François Jost, in 1974, believed that national literature was limited and proposed that comparative literature represented more than just an academic discipline. He saw it as an overall view of literature, a vision of the cultural universe that is inclusive and comprehensive, and even likened it to a kind of world religion. The idea was that all cultural differences disappear when readers engage with great works and that the comparatist's role was to facilitate the spread of universal harmony through the study of literature.
According to Wellek and Warren, comparatists need special skills and linguistic proficiency, and they should widen their perspectives and suppress local biases. They suggest that Literature is a unified field, and comparatists are like international ambassadors promoting universal harmony through their work. This idealistic vision of literature as a unifying force has recurred in history after major crises, such as World War II.
Wellek and Warren state that ‘Literature is one; as art and humanity are one’.
The grand vision of comparative literature as a unifying force has not been realized. As different critical approaches gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, the focus shifted away from comparing texts to analyzing the role of the reader. This led to the breaking down of the idea of universal values and a single interpretation of literature. In the 1950s and 60s, graduate students in the West saw comparative literature as a radical subject that crossed boundaries, even though it lacked coherent methodology and the debate on its existence persisted. In 1969, Harry Levin urged more practical work and less focus on theory, it was already out of date. By the late 70s, a new generation of students had turned to Literary Theory, Women's Studies, Semiotics, Film and Media Studies, and Cultural Studies as more radical subjects. Comparative Literature was seen as a relic of liberal humanism.
In the West, Comparative Literature lost its appeal to the new generation of students in the late 1970s, who turned to other subjects like Literary Theory, Women's Studies, Semiotics, Film and Media Studies, and Cultural Studies. However, in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia, Comparative Literature gained ground based on the specificity of national literature, which was previously denied by many Western comparatists. Programs in Comparative Literature emerged in China, Taiwan, Japan, and other Asian countries, and
Swapan Majumdar attributes this to ‘the predilection for National Literature, which was deplored by Anglo-American critics as a methodology. In particular, Comparative Literature has struck roots in Third World nations and India’.
According to Ganesh Devy, comparative literature in India is directly linked to the rise of modern Indian nationalism, as it has been used to assert the national cultural identity. In contrast to the traditional Western approach of starting with Western literature and looking outwards, Indian comparatists scrutinize the West from without. Indian scholars refer to literature derived from Graeco-Roman matrices via Christianity as "western literature," including English, French, German, etc., which they term as "sub-national literature." This alternative perspective brings a revaluation of the discourse of 'national' literature.
The Indian perspective on comparative literature, as articulated by Ganesh Devy and Swapan Majumdar, challenges the Western notion of 'great' and 'minority' literature. Homi Bhabha suggests that post-colonial culture emphasizes productive cross-cutting across social sites, erasing the traditional disciplinary sense of cultural reference and relevance.
In his essay attacking Hegel's Eurocentric views, James Snead points out that Wole Soyinka and a whole range of African critics have exposed the pervasive influence of Hegel's argument that African culture was 'weak' in contrast to what he claimed was higher, more developed cultures. Hegel effectively denied Africa a history, which was a denial of its cultural and intellectual richness. Snead argues that the outstanding fact of late twentieth-century European culture is its ongoing reconciliation with black culture and that it took too long to discern the elements of black culture already present in latent form. The separation between the cultures was not one of nature, but one of force, and it is only now that Europe is recognizing this fact.
Today, the field of comparative literary studies is very diverse and its approach varies depending on the location where it is being studied. Critics from Africa, India, the Caribbean, and other regions have challenged Western literary criticism's tendency to ignore the implications of their literary and cultural policies. Terry Eagleton has argued that literature, in the traditional sense of the word, is an ideology. He discusses how the emergence of English as an academic subject in the nineteenth century had clear political implications. According to Eagleton, the establishment of the subject in universities followed the major social changes that occurred after the First World War.
“English Literature rode to power on the back of wartime nationalism, but it also represented a search for spiritual solutions on the part of the English ruling class whose sense of identity had been profoundly shaken”
Terry Eagleton's explanation for the rise of English as an academic subject tied in with the early comparatists' aspirations for a subject that transcended cultural boundaries through great literature. However, the definition of English literature has evolved and become more complex over time, leading to questions about what should be included in an English syllabus. Similarly, the emergence of alternative schools of thought, such as Edward Said's work on orientalism, has challenged the traditional understanding of comparative literature. Said's idea that "the Orient" was a word with multiple meanings and connotations not necessarily related to the actual region, has led to a rethinking of Western attitudes towards other cultures. Zhang Longxi's essay, "The Myth of the Other: China in the Eyes of the West," further explores this theme, arguing that China has been traditionally seen as the ultimate "other" by the West. These challenges from non-European critics have brought ideology back into the forefront of literary studies.
In the past, a literature syllabus in Europe or North America could focus on established canonical writers. However, in non-European cultures, especially those that were colonized by Western powers, the syllabus must address different issues. For example, Indian students must grapple with Shakespeare not only as a great figure in European literature but also as a representative of colonial values. This conflict between the two Shakespeares can be addressed by studying his work comparatively and examining his impact on Indian cultural life, while also comparing his work with that of Indian writers.
Comparative literature is growing in many parts of the world as a way to explore indigenous and imported traditions. In places like China, Brazil, India, and Africa, it is used constructively to study the impact of national culture by importation. This is different from the crisis and decay of comparative literature in the West, where there is quibbling about the canon and terms to start comparing. Ganesh Devy's argument that comparative literature in India coincides with modern Indian nationalism is important because it reminds us of the origins of the term 'Comparative Literature' in Europe during an age of national struggles and the question of national culture and identity.
Comparative literature, which compares different works of literature, is facing challenges and changes. In the West, there is a crisis with falling student numbers and a lack of consensus on what the subject should be. However, in other parts of the world, especially in the Third World and the Far East, comparative literature is developing and expanding. It is being used to explore questions of national culture and identity. This new comparative literature is also questioning the traditional European canon of great writers and challenging ideas about cultural history that are male-oriented. The post-modernist theory also revalues the role of the reader and exposes the power structures in society. Western readers are engaging with these challenges without using the term "comparative literature", but the ideas they are exploring are similar.
Translation studies is a rapidly growing field in literary studies that has significant implications for the future of comparative literature. It emphasizes the importance of literature as a differentiated and dynamic 'conglomerate of systems' and sees individual literary systems as part of a multi-faceted whole. This changes the terms of debates about 'majority' and 'minority' cultures and 'great' versus 'marginal' literature. Translation studies draw from multiple disciplines and propose that translation is not a marginal activity, but a major shaping force for change in the history of culture.
Translation studies is an area of literary studies that has grown rapidly since the mid-1970s. Scholars such as Toury, Lefevere, Hermans, and Lambert have shown that translation is especially important during times of cultural change, such as when a culture is expanding or in need of renewal. Translation studies see literature as a dynamic 'conglomerate of systems', and translation as a major shaping force for change in the history of culture. This view explains why there was a proliferation of translations into emergent European nations in the early nineteenth century, and why translation into English began to decrease as the British Empire extended its grasp. Translation studies offer a new way of looking at cultural history, taking into account both the implications of socio-historical changes that affect literary production in different cultures and the linguistic structuring of a text as it is transported across language boundaries. Comparative Studies have claimed translation studies as a sub-category, translation studies establish itself as a subject based on intercultural study and offer a methodology of some rigor, while comparative literature appears less like a discipline and more like a branch of something else. Translation studies are undergoing the opposite process to comparative literature, which seems to be losing ground and becoming more nebulous and loosely defined. The time is approaching for comparative literature to rethink its relationship with Translation Studies, just as linguistics had to rethink its relationship with Semiotics.
Therefore, we need to reassess the role of translation studies vis-à-vis comparative literature, and the long, unresolved debate on whether comparative literature is or is not a discipline in its own right could finally be shelved.
Work Cited
Bassnett, Susan, and Susan Bassnett-MacGuire. Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. Wiley, 1993. Accessed 28 March 2023.
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