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ANALOGY AND PARALLEL STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

 

Analogy

A comparison between things that have similar features, often used to help explain a principle or idea

A comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect  

Definition of Analogical Studies 

A.O. Alridge, the famous American comparatist, defines Analogy as 'resemblances in style, structure, mood or idea between works which have no other connection’.

Influence Study

Ø  Influence Study is an attempt to trace the influence of a writer (Emitter) or for a set of writers upon another (Receiver) in the area of theme, idea, attitude, technique, etc.

Analogy or Parallel Study

Ø  While Influence Study assumes a direct causal relationship between the emitter and the receiver, Analogy Study is concerned with the investigation of two authors or works without necessarily implying a direct causal relationship between them

The definition refers to two kinds of analogical studies

q   (i) The first is a study of certain common conventions between two works. James Liu compared Elizabethan and Chinese Drama to find some common conventions-ways

q  Rene Etiemble uses this as a key-example in his book. It is interesting to note that the Elizabethans did not have any knowledge of the existence of the Chinese drama

q  Prawer feels that it is the lack of mutual influence that makes the comparison interesting

 

(ii) Two writers may arrive at the same idea even though they are independent of each other. Victor Hugo in France and Henreich Heine in Germany have arrived at a common idea about the romantic conception of the grotesque -ugly

 

Types of Analogical Studies

There are also other two kinds of analogical studies

     (i)            The examination of strikingly similar images and image-complexes in the works of poets who never knew each other. Prawer gives the example of the 'black sun' in the poetry of Blake and Nerval

   (ii)            (ii) The second is a study of a  chosen theme in a particular literary genre found all over the world. Prawer gives the example of Arthur Halto who studied ‘the theme of lovers meeting at night and parting at dawn’ in poetry. This theme has been treated alike by poets, ancient or modem, Western or Eastern  

Scope of Analogical Studies

The Influence Study presupposes a direct causal relationship between the Emitter and the Receiver; but Analogical study is concerned with the investigation of two authors or works without necessarily implying a direct causal relationship between them. An analogist may choose to study theme, style, structure, mood, idea, image, etc. between the chosen works. Some very popular analogists are A.O. Alridge, H.R. Jauss, Zhirmunsky and Etiemble.

Three factors that govern Analogical Studies

The three factors that govern the typological analogies are social, literary and psychological, according to S.S. Prawer

     (i)            A situation in which two societies may have reached a similar stage of development or faced with similar problems (Social)

   (ii)            At a certain stage of development, a given genre may develop a dynamic of its own and lead to similar developments abroad. Such a development may or may not be strengthened by direct contacts with foreign models (Literary)

 (iii)            The human mind has common ways of responding to experience, which are known as archetypes in Jungian psychology. The two authors may have a similar cast of mind (psychological).

Archetypes

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst noted that within the collective unconscious there exist a number of archetypes which we can all recognise. An archetype is the model image of a person or role and includes the mother figure, father, wise old man and clown/joker, amongst others. The mother figure, for example, has caring qualities; she is dependable and compassionate. We all hold similar ideas of the mother figure and we see her across cultures and in our language - such as the term 'mother nature'.

Definition of Analogical Studies 

A.O. Alridge, the famous American comparatist, defines Analogy as 'resemblances in style, structure, mood or idea between works which have no other connection’.

Analogy or Parallel Study

While Influence Study assumes a direct causal relationship between the emitter and the receiver, Analogy Study is concerned with the investigation of two authors or works without necessarily implying a direct causal relationship between them

The factors that account for analogies or parallels in themes, concepts or images are:

1. Psychological  Factor:  The  human  mind  has  common  ways  of  responding  to experience. Also, two authors may have a similar cast of mind.

2. Socio-Historical  Factor:  Two  societies  may  have  reached  a  similar  stage  of development or faced with similar problems.

Eg: Arthur Hatto studied the theme of lovers meeting at night and parting at dawn in poetry. His conclusion is that the theme has been treated alike by poets, ancient or modern, Western or Chinese

Thus, the concept of Influence his central to Comparative Literature studies

 

 

 

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