The most basic characteristics of comparative literature are

As a discipline, comparative literature was formed from the 1970s to the early 20th century in 19, and its center of formation and further development was in France (Van Digen et al.).

French school: a positivist method, which regards comparative literature as a branch of "literary history", studies the relationship between writers' works of different countries and nationalities, and emphasizes "factual connection".

Chapel Hill Conference: A Turning Point in the Development of Comparative Literature. At this meeting, the traditional view of comparative literature was criticized. Wellek interpreted the crisis of comparative literature and expounded the viewpoint of American school, which caused international debate for more than ten years, led to the maturity of comparative literature theory and promoted the healthy development of the subject.

The American school regards comparative literature as a kind of literary research, covering three aspects: literary history, literary criticism and literary theory. It includes not only the study of literary relationship with "factual connection", but also the cross-border literary research without factual connection, as well as the comparative study of literature and other disciplines.

Comparative literature: an open literary study with a macro-vision and an international vision, which takes various literary relations across national, linguistic, cultural and interdisciplinary boundaries as the research object and has relatively conscious and inclusive characteristics in theory and method. The research object of comparative literature is all kinds of literary relations across nationalities, languages, cultures and disciplines.

Cross-ethnic refers to: first, the study of comparative literature and national literature is distinguished, and the comparison between different cultures is emphasized. The fundamental significance of trans-nationality lies in cross-culture. Secondly, the comparative study of literature among ethnic groups in multi-ethnic countries also belongs to the category of comparative literature.

Various literary relations: including factual relations (the actual mutual relationship and influence between two or more national literatures).

Value relationship (some literary phenomena, although not actually related, have certain comparability and research value, as well as their internal value relationship)

Cross relationship (the relationship between literature and other disciplines, including mutual influence and mutual interpretation, etc.). )

The nature of comparative literature: a branch of literary research is an independent discipline, not just a research method. It has a specific research field, a strong sense of conscious comparison, a comparative position in research work, transcending various boundaries, investigating literary phenomena in different reference systems, and having consistent and indispensable comparison methods.

Openness and macro. Openness: the most basic feature of comparative literature. Comparative literature is a huge and constantly moving open system, and its openness has three meanings:

1 Not limited by the status and value of time, space, writers and works themselves. As long as they are comparable and can draw meaningful conclusions.

2. Compared with the traditional literature research, it is more extensive, and it is a grand model of the interaction between writers, works, readers and the four poles of the world.

3. Comparative analysis is the main research method, and the acceptance of new ideas and methods (humanities, social sciences and natural sciences) is sensitive and conscious, which has considerable advantages in contemporary times.

Macroscopicity: looking down on various literary phenomena from an international perspective, making a macro comparative analysis, with a broad vision and a grand mind.

National literature: literature distinguished by political concepts such as state.

Ethnic literature: literature divided by ethnic groups. It is the starting point of comparative literature.

World literature: the bright future of literature development first proposed by Goethe.

Holistic literature: the general term of poetics or aesthetics, which is actually another name of literary theory, does not stipulate a comparative research method.

Comparability: refers to the possibility and value of comparative research in leaping literary phenomena due to various internal relations that actually exist. It is the theoretical basis of comparative literature and exists objectively, which needs us to explore.

The purpose and function of comparative literature: to help us better understand the essence of literature and its driving force for development, to study the influence, significance and value of literary works, to better explore the laws of literature, to promote cultural exchanges, to promote the prosperity of national literature and to promote the progress of world literature.

The publication of Qian Zhongshu, 1979, marked the revival of comparative literature in China. Starting from specific works and literary phenomena, it seeks artistic laws with universal significance, and has unique insights in the study of Chinese and Western literature and literary theory, which opens the way for the development of comparative literature in China.

The basic types of comparative literature: influence research, parallel research, interpretation research and reception research.

Influence research: one of the basic research types of comparative literature, the only type in early practice, has a strong diachronic consciousness. Through extensive collection of materials, rigorous textual research, analysis and induction of facts and summary, based on facts, it transcends national boundaries and studies the interrelation and mutual influence between literatures of various countries, including the understanding of the essence of artistic creation activities.

Parallel research: compare "similar" and comparable literature, compare writers and works belonging to two or more different nationalities, study their similarities and differences, draw useful conclusions, pay attention to the internal factors and aesthetic value of works, and require the research objects to be "comparable" and "literary".

Explanatory research: a type of comparative literature research, which was first put forward by scholars in Taiwan Province Province, China. It includes using foreign (native) literary theory to explain native (foreign) literary works and literary phenomena, the mutual interpretation of different national literary theories, and using other disciplines and theories to explain and explain literary phenomena. It is a two-way and mutual exposition, and explains the basic truth through concrete and subtle research.

Reception research: it is a research type that studies the influence of writers' works on readers (listeners and audiences) of different nationalities, that is, the acceptance of a literary work by foreign readers is influenced by reception aesthetics, and readers' participation is fully considered.

Several areas of comparative study within the scope of literature: comparative study of myth and folk literature, genre study, theme study, media study, iconology, comparative study of ideological trend and genre, comparative poetics, etc.

Genre: A comparative study of all kinds and types of literary forms and styles. Through diachronic and cognitive methods, we can understand the history and basic characteristics of genre development, the author's originality and the national tradition and characteristics of literature.

Grammar: through the different expressions of the same theme, theme, motif, plot, characters and images in different national literary works, as well as their relationship and the duration of evolution, this paper studies the different ways of handling by different writers and the roots of this evolution and handling.

Media research: the study of people and things-media, which play a transmitting role in the process of literary communication and realize literary communication, is divided into three categories: personal media, group and environmental media and written material media.

Imagery: born out of the study of influence, it is a category of comparative literature. It studies the image of foreign nationalities in a country's literary works, pays attention to how writers understand, describe and explain foreign nationalities as others in their works, explores the creation process and laws of foreign myths, and analyzes their social and psychological background and deep cultural implications.

"Figure of speech": In iconology, figure of speech refers to a conventional phrase used repeatedly by a nation for a long time to describe foreign countries or foreigners. It is the smallest unit of the image of the other in the text, an irrefutable expression driven by the national psychological set, and marks the solidified view of the "other".

Comparative poetics: a research field of comparative literature refers to the comparative study of literary theories of different nationalities and different cultural systems. With a broader research vision and international vision, with a conscious sense of comparison, we should transcend the "mold" of the national cultural system and explore the "* * * same law" of human literature at a higher level. For China scholars, the most important thing is the comparative poetics between China and the West. )