How Comparative Literature Came into Being

This article is the translation of the first chapter of Susan Bassnett’s Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. In this chapter, Bassnett deals with the birth and development of Comparative Literature. Considering the origin of the term "Comparative Literature" and the circulation of its concepts at the beginning of the 19th century, she discusses such critical issues as the relation between culture and nationality, cultural interactions, the impact of particular and sometimes fraudulent works, the process of stabilizing national identity, the role of translation, the belief in the cultural and political superiority of Imperialism, chairs of comparative literature at European and American universities, the effort to define and assign subjects of study, comparative literature from French and German vantage points, the distinction between such terms as Comparative Literature, General Literature, and World Literature, the difference between languages, and the introduction of binary relations. Having introduced and discussed the issues mentioned above, she proceeds to shed light on the role they play in the blossoming and fruition of Comparative literature.