Comparative Literature in the French and American Schools: Perspectives and Methodologies

Abstract

The paper examines the discipline of comparative literature by taking a closer look at the two schools of French and American approach and how these schools have developed their conceptual frameworks and methodological orientation. Comparative literature as an academic field aims at bridging the literary traditions across cultures and geographic barriers by identifying both similarities and differences between them.

      The study follows the historical origins of the discipline to its initial formations in France, where it was based on concepts of national literature and the concept of literary influence. The French school placed stress on historic documentation and the tracing of direct relations between literatures. The American school, in turn, began with a more interdisciplinary and more inclusive vision, and drew on cultural studies, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. It also highlighted the plurality of voices and the interactive movement of texts across cultural settings.

Each school is dedicated to two distinct parts: French tradition, which focuses on textual genealogy and historical rigor, and the American model, which extends the boundaries of comparison to the discourse analysis and interaction between cultures. A third section includes a comparative synthesis of the two methodologies that shows how each methodology brings unique strengths to the field.

     The study ends with a call to an integrated approach that would merge the accuracy of the French model with the inclusiveness of the American one. This kind of synthesis, it claims, enriches the field in its study of world literature and its interpretation of complicated literary transactions between cultures.