Beyond the Frontiers of Europe: Alternative Concepts of Comparative Literature

The original article by Bassnet does not include an abstract; however, due to our policy in Comparative Literature Journal, we have added one. In this Chapter, Bassnet deals with comparative literature beyond the frontiers of Europe; she shows the formation process of the American school of comparative literature in contrast to the European schools and considers the influence of the American school on the important concepts of comparative literature and goes on to distinguish between the so called old and New worlds of comparative literature; Bassnet studies comparative literature in the post-colonial age with regard to Indian and African versions of comparative literature and tries to differentiate between European and non-European approaches; she proceeds to lay bare the comparative schools in the 1990s, particularly the French and German schools; in this chapter the positivist and formalist models and even the paradigms outside the Euro-American tradition are highlighted as well; the writer discuses the widespread use of the English language after the decline of classical languages such as Latin and Greek and pinpoints the role it plays in the literary studies, especially in comparative literature; and thence, the significance of translation is underscored by the writer; finally she tries to elucidate the interaction between comparative literature and cultural studies and reveal their similarities and close relationship.