Comparative Literature in Russia

Russia has a long history of comparative literature. Among the theoretical achievements of Russian comparatists, Veselovsky's theory of Historical Poetics can be pointed out. Comparative literature blossomed at the beginning of the nineteenth century in Russia and kept running parallel to other forerunner countries for some time, however; it gradually fell behind due to the overtly politicized content of Russian literature. Although comparative literature in the Soviet Russia shifted the attention of the comparatists away from the issue of influence to that of affinities, it was hardly distinguishable from the French school of comparative literature as far as the basics were concerned. Therefore, the blossoming season of comparative literature in the Soviet Russia can be considered the period of transition from the French to the American School. The comparatist who chooses the affinity between two literary phenomena as the subject of study must be careful to evade the trap of simplification by paying sufficient attention to the historical, social, cultural and political discourses that have informed the literary phenomena.