Comparative literature : historical and critical study of its schools, approaches and concepts

Abstract EN

This essay is intended to analyse the discipline of comparative literature with the aim of appropriating a methodology that can be used in literary studies.

This critical appropriation is of quite significance because it can contribute in the contemporary comparative studies.

My discussion of comparative literature is divided into four sections: the French school i.e.

the historical and positivist approach; the German and Slavic school i.e.

the Marxist approach; the American school i.e.

the critical and interdisciplinary approach; and finally the theory of intertextuality i.e.

the Semiotic approach.

At the end of this paper, I conclude that the previous sections can be utilised as an appropriate methodology for analysing literary texts.

This is because literary works echo one another.

In addition to that, the American approach particularly the interdisciplinary approach cannot be avoided in literary studies for literary texts reflect other fields of knowledge.

However, I have deduced that the studies of intertextuality are ignored in contemporary critical works.

Therefore, I claim that comparative studies can be developed when including the studies of intertextuality.