comparative lit and world lit
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Why do we study world literature?
We need to study world literature, because we are human. Our experiences
as humans connect us to eac the medium of literature. You may ask, "Why
not connect through the medium of television, since it is so The answer,
simplified, is that television is constrained by several factors: programming isreliant on spo subject to censorship by those sponsors; television
programming is too short in duration to allow for a fu part of the human
condition; programming has, unfortunately, devolved into slick, fast-paced
"nuggets" deliver entertainment for a large audience, not true information.
There's much more, but lest I start to d If we allow ourselves to live a "small
life" -one in which we never experience anything beyond our imme we do not
learn about other cultures. We do not get the opportunity to see how others
handle situations own. We feel isolated and alone in our daily challenges. We
do not feel the empathy with our global neig from developing detrimental
biases against them. Perhaps the argument can be made that keeping
oneself isolated from the world could lead to some form sociopathic
tendencies. Literature can remove the obstacle of social isolation for those
unable to physica about to the rest of the world's issues. We also learn how
to better communicate through literature. Conversation is too peppered with
jargon a at teaching us communication in a wider setting than literature. We
can learn appropriate phrasing in dif help us to possibly fit in or get ahead.
Plus, the more we read good literature, the more we "get it" when references
to various, fitting quotes from it. Just think of how many headlines have gone
misunderstood read more . . .
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE OR WORLD LITERATURE
World Literature or Comparative Literature? Harry Levin, a famous professor
of comparative literature, once had a dream in which two workmen knocked
on his door and announced that they "had come to compare the literature."
Many explanations of what comparative literature is, begin with this
anecdote, which raises the central issue: just how does one compare
literature? The terms "Comparative Literature" and "World Literature" are
often used to designate a similar course of study. Comparative Literature is
the more widely used term in the United States, with many universities
having Comparative Literature Departments or Comparative Literature
Programs. There are also scholarly associations such as the InternationalComparative Literature Association (ICLA), the American Comparative
Literature Association (ACLA), whose secretariat has been housed at the
University of Alabama since August 1998, and the Southern Comparative
Literature Association (SCLA). The latter two organizations sponsor annual
conferences and publish journals, Comparative Literature and The
Comparatist respectively. Other well-known comparative literature journals
published in the United States are: Comparative Literature Studies (Penn
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7/28/2019 Comparative Lit and World Lit
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State University), World Literature Today (University of Oklahoma), and
Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature (Indiana University).
At the University of Alabama the Comparative Literature Program underwent
a name change and has been been known as World Literature for a number
of years. The World Literature Program is directed by Dr. Elaine Martin(Modern Languages and Classics) and offers the minor in world literature as
well as courses that can be taken for graduate credit. The World Literature
faculty is drawn from various disciplines such as Italian, English, German,
French, Women's Studies, and Religious Studies. In addition to the core
courses of the World Literature Survey I and II and Major World Authors I and
II, the program also offers a wide variety of special topics courses, which may
treat a movement (ex. Romanticism), an individual author (ex. Boccaccio;
Goethe); issues of influence (ex. Petrarch and Petrarchism); a genre (ex. the
novel; lyric poetry; drama), or a specific subject or theme (ex.
Representations of Food in Literature and Film).
What is Comparative Literature?
Comparative literature is the discipline of studying literature internationally:
across national borders
across time periods
across languages
across genres
across boundaries between literature and the other arts (music, painting,
dance, film, etc.)
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