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We have paper on the comparative Studies and translation studies in our syllabus. In that we have to study various articles on that particular subject. So in this blog i would like to talk about two articles from the unit 2.
4) Susan Bassnett, “What is Comparative Literature Today?” Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. 1993.
5) Todd Presner, ‘Comparative Literature in the Age of Digital Humanities: On Possible Futures for a Discipline’ in Ali Behdad and Thomas eds. A Companion to Comparative Literature’ 2011, 193- 207
Susan Bassnett, “What is Comparative Literature Today?” Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. 1993.
Abstract:-
There have been many different definitions of comparative literature, all of which differ greatly from one scholar to the next, but all agree that it is one of the most modern literary sciences. New critical theories, such as gender-based criticism, translation studies, deconstruction, and Orientalism, have revolutionised approaches to literature throughout the last two decades, and have had a significant impact on comparatists' work. Anyone claiming to work in comparative literature will eventually have to respond to the inevitable question: What is it? The simplest response is that comparative literature is concerned with patterns of relationship in literature across time and space, is interdisciplinary, and involves the study of writings from many civilizations. (p.1) (Bassnett)
As Matthew Arnold puts it, "Everywhere there is connection, everywhere there is example." Everyone who is interested in books, according to Susan Bassnett, is on their way to comparative literature. While reading Chaucer, we come across Boccaccio. The fundamental sources for Shakespeare's work can be found in Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian. It's easy to see how Baudelaire's admiration for Edgar Allan Poe inspired his own work. Consider how many English authors drew inspiration from nineteenth-century Russian literature. Italo Svevo's borrowing and lending can be compared to James Joyce's borrowing and lending. Clarice Lispector has a similar aesthetic to Jean Rhys, who in turn has a similar aesthetic to Djuna Barnes and Anais Nin.
Key Arguments:-
Comparative Literature is concerned with the study of literature outside of a single culture's borders, as well as the relationship between literature and other forms of human expression such as philosophy. Because it examines the convergence (junction) of different literatures and their historical aspects of influence, critics have linked it to history. Comparative Literature is the essence of the history of literature, extending beyond the scope of one culture or language.
Another issue is that in 1960, west students claimed that comparative literature could be divided into single borders for research, but she claims that there is no specific way for claiming.
Critics grapple with the same concerns addressed more than a century ago toward the end of the twentieth century, in the age of postmodernism:
1. What is the purpose of the comparative literature study?
1. How can anything have a goal of comparison?
1. What might a comparative canon look like if individual literatures have a canon?
1. How does a comparatist choose which items to compare?
Is comparative literature a field of study? Is it only a field of study, or something more?
Analysis:-
1)A comparative analysis is an interdisciplinary study of writings from many cultures that aims to connect disparate works of literature across time and geography. As a result, it's necessary to look beyond the confines of a single topic area to see how texts, writers, and cultural contexts are linked. According to Matthew Arnold, no single literary can be fully realised until it is understood in relation to other literatures. "There is a relationship everywhere, and there is illustration everywhere." "No single event, no single piece of writing can be fully comprehended without reference to other events, other works of literature." (Arnold,1857).
2)Comparative Literature is an unavoidable part of the reading process. To undertake a comparative analysis, you should have already read works by notable authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Baudelaire, Poe, Joyce, and others. You will be able to walk across any frontiers, as Goethe highlighted, and will be able to discern cultural distinctions if you read extensively. "Comparative Literature...will place heavy demands on our academics' linguistic abilities. It necessitates a broadening of perspectives and the suppression of local and provincial sentiments, both of which are difficult to attain." (1949, Wellek and Warren)
"Literature is one; as art and humanity are one," Wellek and Warren continue.
It's an idealistic concept that comes up again and again in the wake of significant worldwide crises.
3)The emphasis has shifted away from comparing texts and tracking patterns of influence, and new theories such as structuralalism, deconstructionism, semiology, psychoanalysis, and others have developed. The third world schools have turned to focus on the specificity of national literatures, directly influencing the rise of nationalism and interest in cultural identity. The Eurocentric CL studies, which focused only on the ideal of universalism, the third world schools have turned to focus on the specificity of national literatures, and have directly influenced the rise of nationalism and interest in cultural identity. From the outside, the West began to be studied from a radical alternative perspective. Comparists from Africa, India, and the Caribbean have refused to deny their cultural and literary histories.
4)The concept of 'Great Literature' has been questioned since the emergence of the 'Myth of the Other.' Globally, Comparative Literature has developed as a result of growing national awareness of the need to move past colonialism.Shakespeare's literature is difficult to compare in India because he was seen as a manifestation of colonial values.
5)In the West, comparative literature, or cross-cultural criticism, has lost ground, and it is no longer a binary subject, as many comparatists are tackling a variety of issues, and it is being likened to translation studies, which are crucial during times of major cultural change. The question of whether CL is or is not a discipline in its own right has been unanswered for a long time. Comparative literature in India, according to Ganesh Devy, is integrally linked to the emergence of modern Indian nationalism. He points out that comparative literature has been used to establish national cultural identities.
6)There is no implication here that national and comparative literature are mutually exclusive. The argument is essential because it serves to remind us of the origins of the term Comparative Literature in Europe, a term that was coined during a time of national war when new boundaries were being drawn.The subject of national identity and culture was then contested across Europe and the United States.
Conclusion:-
Translation Studies has advanced to the point where many people consider it to be a unique field in and of itself. Translation Studies is influenced by linguistics, literary studies, history, anthropology, psychology, and sociology. It advances the bold notion that translation is a key shaping force for change in cultural history, rather than a sideline activity. Although this premise is currently being contested, translation has long been claimed as a sub-category in comparative literature. Scholars such as Toury, Lefevere, Hermans, Lambert, and others have emphasised the importance of translation during periods of great cultural upheaval. Significant translation activity occurs while a civilisation is in transition, according to Evan-Zohar.
Work ciated:-
1)Asaad, Sondoss Al. “Summary Of Susan Bassnett's A Critical Introduction To Comparative Literature | Sondoss Al Asaad - Academia.edu.” Summary Of Susan Bassnett's A Critical Introduction To Comparative Literature | Sondoss Al Asaad - Academia.edu, Www.academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/40176264/Summary_of_Susan_Bassnetts_A_Critical_In troduction_to_Comparative_Literature.
2) Bassnett, Susan. “Comparative Literature A Critical Introduction.” "Introduction : What Is Comparative Literature Today ?" , 1993.
3)Wellek, and Warren. Theory Of Literature , 1949
Todd Presner, ‘Comparative Literature in the Age of Digital Humanities: On Possible Futures for a Discipline’ in Ali Behdad and Thomas eds. A Companion to Comparative Literature’ 2011, 193- 207
Abstract:-
We are in the midst of another watershed moment in human history, comparable to the invention of the printing press or maybe the discovery of the New World, after five centuries of print and the immense transformations in society and culture that it ushered in. This essay addresses issues such as why it is critical for humanists to assert themselves and participate in the twenty-first century cultural battles, which are mostly defined, fought, and won by corporate interests.
Key Arguments:-
Why were humanists, foundations, and universities, for example, notably – even scandalously – silent when Google won its book search case and, effectively, secured the right to transfer copyright of orphaned works to itself? Why were they deafeningly quiet when companies like Sony and Disney virtually constructed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which severely curtailed intellectual property, copyright, and sharing? The Manifesto is a call to Humanists to engage more deeply in the production, publishing, access, and ownership of digital culture. How will our cultural history be reproduced in new media formats if new technologies are dominated and controlled by corporate and entertainment interests? Who is it being done for and who is it being done by?
1)Since they raise questions that have formed the methodological, disciplinary, and institutional foundation of a wide-range of academic fields in the Humanities, such as history and art history, literary and cultural studies, and the humanistic social sciences, such as anthropology, archaeology, and information studies, Comparative Literature has become increasingly popular.
2)How will our cultural history be reproduced in new media formats if new technologies are dominated and controlled by corporate and entertainment interests? Who is it being done for and who is it being done by? Humanists must urgently ask and address these questions.
3)The question we must address in the fourth information age is the uniqueness of the digital medium in comparison to other media formats, the various types of cultural knowledge produced, the methods of analysis, the various platforms that support it, and, finally, the modes of authorship and reception that facilitate new architectures of participation and power.
4)What is the definition of an author? What exactly is a work? What is the definition of a text, especially in a world where any text can be read and written by anyone?
5)As a result, Comparative Media Studies allows us to return with renewed vigour to some of our field's most fundamental questions: Who is an author? What exactly is a work? What is the definition of a text, especially in a world where any text can be read and written by anyone?
6)Google has already digitised and indexed over ten million books, allowing scholars to conduct increasingly complex searches, discover patterns, and potentially export large datasets derived from the digital book repository into other applications (such as Geographic Information Systems) to pursue quantitative questions like statistical correlations, publishing histories, and semantic analyses, as well as qualitative, hermeneutical questions.
6)Historical data, such as every shot in Vertov or Eisenstein's films, the covers and content of every magazine published in the United States in the twentieth century, or Milton's collected works, are examples of such datasets, as are contemporary, real-time data flows such as tweets, SMS messaging, or search trends. Comparative Data Studies allows us to use the computational tools of cultural analytics to enhance literary scholarship precisely by creating models, visualisations, maps, and semantic webs of data that are just too large to read or comprehend using unaided human faculties.
Comparative Media Studies:-
A collection of written or visual materials interconnected in such a complicated way that it couldn't be displayed or represented on paper [...] Such a system may continue to expand indefinitely, eventually incorporating all of the world's written knowledge. (Nelson, pp. 134–145, 2004)
Authorship and Platform Studies in Comparison:-
Many corporate entities, as James Boyle points out, are keen to manage the public realm and control the "commons of the mind." 10 The true threat, according to Boyle, is not illicit file sharing, but "failed sharing" as a result of the creative commons' enclosures and restrictions (Boyle, 2008 : p. 182). McKenzie Wark and Kathleen Fitzpatrick, for example, have "published" early draughts of their whole books on Commentpress.
Comparative Data Studies:-
The area of " cultural analytics," as defined by Lev Manovich and Noah Wardrip - Fruin, has evolved over the last five years to use the capabilities of high-end computational analysis and data visualisation to deconstruct large-scale cultural datasets. In his brilliant examination of " radiant textuality," Jerome McGann argues about the discrepancies between the codex and electronic versions of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Conclusion:-
This essay primarily focuses on how we do comparative studies in the digital humanities in the twenty-first century. After debating numerous points, we learned that it currently has over three million content pages, over 300 million modifications, over ten million registered users, and articles in forty-seven languages (Wikipedia Statistics). This is a huge accomplishment after eight years of hard labour. With an editing model and versioning system that documents every contingent decision made by every contributing author, Wikipedia represents a dynamic, flexible, and open-ended network for knowledge creation and distribution that emphasises process, collaboration, access, interactivity, and creativity.
Wikipedia is already the most extensive, representative, and widespread participatory platform for knowledge production ever established by humanity at this point in its brief existence. That, in my opinion, merits some thought and consideration, perhaps even by scholars in a future incarnation of Comparative Literature.
Work ciated:-
Presner, Todd. “Comparative Literature in the Age of Digital Humanities: On Possible Futures for a Discipline.” 2011, p. 16.
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