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EVOLUTION OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Comparative literature is an interdisciplinary field that studies literature across national boundaries, time periods, and genres, emphasizing the relationships between different literatures and other areas of knowledge. The discipline's origins can be traced back to mythologists and literary historians in Germany and France, with significant contributions from figures like Henry Remak and Rabindranath Tagore. The term 'comparative literature' gained prominence in the 19th century through various anthologies and its usage in English by Matthew Arnold.

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6 views5 pages

EVOLUTION OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Comparative literature is an interdisciplinary field that studies literature across national boundaries, time periods, and genres, emphasizing the relationships between different literatures and other areas of knowledge. The discipline's origins can be traced back to mythologists and literary historians in Germany and France, with significant contributions from figures like Henry Remak and Rabindranath Tagore. The term 'comparative literature' gained prominence in the 19th century through various anthologies and its usage in English by Matthew Arnold.

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marvisharma01
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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

AND ITS EVOLUTION

*Comparative study of literature is as old as


literary criticism.
*Comparative literature is interdisciplinary in
nature. It is the discipline of studying literature
internationally across national boundaries, time
periods, languages, genres and disciplines
*It is the study of more than one literature in
relation to one another.
• Definitions:
*Henry Remak while defining comparative
literature says, “ Comparative literature is the
study of literature beyond the confines of one
particular country and the study of the
relationships between literature on one hand and
other areas of knowledge and belief such as the
arts (i.e. painting, architecture, sculpture, music,),
philosophy and history, the social sciences (
politics, economics, sociology) the sciences,
religion etc. on the other. In brief, it is the
comparison of literature with other spheres of
human expression.”
*The beginning of the comparative
literature studies could be traced to
the mythologists and ancient literary
historians in Germany and France.
*It was realized that literatures do not
remain confined to the political
boundaries of their origin and they
often interact.
*The historical connections between
modern European literatures and
classical literatures are obvious.
*Comparative literature presumably had
its name as such from a series of French
anthologies published in 1816. They were
titled as “Cours de literature comparee”.
*However, Rene Wellek suggests that the
German version of the term
“Vergluchende Literaturgeschichte” first
appeared in a book by Moriz Carriere in
1854.
*The English usage of the term is
attributed to Matthew Arnold who is
claimed to have used the term in 1848.
*Rabindranath Tagore introduced the idea of
comparative literature in India for the first time
in his essay titled Visva-Sahitya in 1906. Tagore
borrowed the idea from Goethe’s World
Literature. *Tagore said, “ We must now free
ourselves from the narrow parochialism and
discover the image of mankind in World
Literature.

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