Comparative Literature

Comparative literature is a branch of scholarship that studies literature in international and intercultural connections: contact relations (influences, borrowings, translations), typological correspondences (similar phenomena that arose independently), and the interaction of literature with the other arts. The comparative method makes it possible to see a national literature in the context of the world process and at the same time to bring out its distinctiveness. The foundations of comparative literature were laid in the 19th century; important contributions were made by Alexander Veselovsky ('historical poetics') and the school of migratory plots. In Ukraine, the comparative study of literature and folklore was initiated by Mykola Dashkevych and developed by Ivan Franko (his work on 'The Poplar' and international plots) and Dmytro Nalyvaiko, author of foundational works on the theory of comparative literature and imagology.