Introducing Comparative Literature: New Trends and Applications

Citation

Domínguez, C., Saussy, H., & Villanueva, D. (2015). Introducing Comparative Literature: New Trends and Applications. Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The book has nine chapters, a glossary of terms and concepts, and a detailed guide to further reading, in about 170 to 190 pages (Google Books lists 169, Routledge 190). Routledge describes it as a comprehensive guide to the field that frames the introduction within recent theoretical debates and shifts in the discipline, while also addressing the history of the field and its practical application. It looks at comparative literature in the context of globalization, cosmopolitanism and post- or transnationalism, and offers engagement and comparison with other media such as cinema and e-literature. According to the publisher, the first four chapters address broad theoretical issues, among them "interliterary theory," decoloniality and world literature, while the next four are more applied, looking at themes, translation, literary history and comparison with other arts. The contents list gives chapter titles only, so the summaries below follow the titles and the publisher's description.

Chapter 1: Comparative Literature and the Future of Literary Studies

The opening chapter places the discipline within literary studies as a whole and looks ahead. Its title ties the field's prospects to those of literary studies generally, which fits the publisher's framing of the book within recent debates and shifts in the discipline.

Chapters 2–4: Interliterary Theory, Decoloniality, World Literature

Chapter 2, "Comparative Literature as Interliterary Theory," Chapter 3, "Comparative Literature and Decoloniality," and Chapter 4, "World Literature as a Comparative Practice," make up the theoretical core described by the publisher as the first four chapters. The three titles name interliterary theory, decoloniality and world literature as a comparative practice.

Chapters 5–8: Themes and Images, Translation, Literary History, Interartistic Comparison

The four applied chapters show comparison at work: "Comparing Themes and Images," "Comparative Literature and Translation," "Comparative Literary History" and "Interartistic Comparison." The last of them corresponds to the publisher's mention of comparison with other arts, and the publisher also notes the book's engagement with media such as cinema and e-literature.

Chapter 9: The Return of Literature

The final chapter is titled "The Return of Literature." The contents do not describe it beyond its title.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–4: Theory

• Interliterary theory: the approach named in the title of Chapter 2 and put in quotation marks by the publisher as one of the broad theoretical issues of the field.
• Decoloniality: the subject of Chapter 3.
• World literature as a comparative practice: the title of Chapter 4, which treats world literature as a way of comparing.

Chapters 5–9: Application

• Themes and images: the topic of Chapter 5.
• Translation: the topic of Chapter 6.
• Comparative literary history: the topic of Chapter 7.
• Interartistic comparison: the comparison of literature with other arts in Chapter 8.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Theory and practice in one short book. The publisher's description splits the book into four theory chapters and four applied chapters, with an opening and a closing chapter around them, which lets a reader see both what the field argues about and how comparison is done.
• A glossary and a guide to further reading. The publisher highlights a glossary of terms and concepts and a detailed guide to further reading, which are useful in a new field of study.
• Endorsements from established comparatists. Routledge quotes Sandra Bermann (Princeton), Javed Majeed (King's College London), David LaGuardia (Dartmouth) and Susan Bassnett (Warwick). Bassnett calls it a provocative alternative to the old familiar Anglo-American theories of comparative literature, and Bermann describes it as presenting and rethinking the field; these are marketing endorsements, not full reviews.
• Authors working in more than one tradition. The authors are based in Spain (Santiago de Compostela) and the United States (Chicago), and Bassnett's endorsement presents the book as an alternative to the old familiar Anglo-American theories of the field.

Limitations

• Short. At roughly 170 to 190 pages for nine chapters, each topic is introduced rather than explored fully, and readers will depend on the further reading guide.
• A particular orientation. The publisher's framing (globalization, cosmopolitanism, transnationalism, decoloniality) shows a specific theoretical orientation; the history of the field is covered within a short book, so readers wanting the discipline's older methods in depth will need other books.
• Date. The book was published in 2015, so recent developments are not covered.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the world and comparative literature course, this book is a guide to the discipline of comparative literature, with a theoretical emphasis. Ben Hutchinson's Comparative Literature: A Very Short Introduction is the shorter and gentler starting point, asking what it means to read comparatively. David Damrosch's What Is World Literature? and Pascale Casanova's The World Republic of Letters are book-length studies of the world literature questions that Chapter 4 here treats in one chapter; Casanova's book is a specialised argument about world literature as an international field. The Norton Anthology of World Literature supplies the texts in translation on which comparison can be practised, and Erich Auerbach's Mimesis is a long study of the representation of reality in European literature built on close readings of passages from many periods.

How to Use This Book

The book is for undergraduates meeting comparative literature for the first time and for students who want an orientation to its current debates. Routledge does not list prerequisites, but some experience of reading literature from more than one language or tradition will help.

A practical plan is to read Chapter 1 for orientation, then Chapters 2 to 4 as the theoretical section, with the glossary open. Then choose among Chapters 5 to 8 according to your interests: Chapter 6 if you read translated texts, Chapter 8 if you work across the arts, and Chapter 7 if you want a historical frame. Read Chapter 9 last. Use the guide to further reading to select the next book, for example one of the world literature studies listed in the course.