French School
From the early part of the 20th century until WWII, the field was characterised by a notably empiricist and positivist approach, termed the "French School," in which scholars examined works forensically, looking for evidence of "origins" and "influences" between works from different nations. Thus a scholar might attempt to trace how a particular literary idea or motif traveled between nations over time. In the French School of Comparative Literature, the study of influences and mentalities dominates. Today, the French School practices the nation-state approach of the discipline although it also promotes the approach of a "European Comparative Literature."
Read more about this topic: Comparative Literature
Famous quotes containing the words french and/or school:
“Vivian Rutledge: So you do get up. I was beginning to think perhaps you worked in bed like Marcel Proust.
Philip Marlowe: Who’s he?
Vivian: You wouldn’t know him. French writer.
Marlowe: Come into my boudoir.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“Bodily offspring I do not leave, but mental offspring I do. Well, my books do not have to be sent to school and college, and then insist on going into the church, or take to drinking, or marry their mother’s maid.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)