Comparative Literature

by Susan Bassnett

This major new introduction to comparative literature is for the students coming to the subject for the first time. Through an examination of a series of case studies and new theoretical developments, Bassnett reviews the current state of comparative literature world–wide in the 1990s. In the past twenty years of a range of new developments in critical theory have changed patterns of reading and approaches to literature: gender–based criticism, reception studies, the growth of translation studies, deconstruction and orientalism all have had a profound impact on work in comparative literature. Bassnett asks questions not only about the current state of comparative literature as a discipline,