COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND SYSTEMIC - INSTITUTIONAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE - NEW DEVELOPMENTS

This paper serves the purpose of a discussion about systematic approac h in the study of literature and its relationship with the discipline of Comparative Literature in recent years, so in the context of the jo urnal Systems Research and its aim of ''General research that holds pr omise in humanistic applications and elaborates such promise and poten tial in clear and compelling ways''. As the systemic approach to liter ature contains theoretical and methodological postulates which in many instances overlap with postulates of theoretical frameworks where lit erature is viewed as an ''institution,'' the institutional approach is also discussed. After an introduction of systems theory in the study of literature in general and of the Systemic and Empirical Approach to Literature, the Polysystem Theory, and the l'institution litteraire, recent developments of systemic thinking in selected works of Comparat ive Literature are briefly introduced and discussed. The focus of the discussion is in the context of international scholarship and developm ents of the last decade.