Reflections on the crisis of comparative literature in the contemporary west

Abstract

In their Article "Reflections on the Crisis of Comparative Literature in the Contemporary West" Zhoukun Han and Wen Quan review the challenges met during the evolution of comparative literature as a discipline between the turn of nineteenth century and 1958. They maintain that comparative literature in the contemporary West is indeed experiencing a crisis, explicate the reasons for this. Apart from the pursuit of sameness inherent in conventional comparative studies and the position of western-centrism, the shift from literary comparison to cultural study has exacerbated the crisis. In view of this situation, some western scholars call for a return to comparison and literature. Furthermore, they resuscitate the conception of world literature and give it new meanings to address the crisis. Meanwhile Chinese scholars have responded with cross-civilization studies and variation theory, which promises of a new theoretical construction for comparative literature.