Towards the Theory of Comparative Literature: From West to the Arab World

Comparative literature refers to the multinational study of literature through comparison as its main mean. This field is can be applied in the study of literature in two ways: first, gaining knowledge and utilizing other disciplines for the study of literature and second, the inclusion of the Other, be that a marginal literature in its several meanings of marginality, a genre, various text types, etc. It may also facilitate the cross-cultural and interdisciplinary study of literature. In fact, comparison is a necessity in many fields, including literary studies, where the globalization has stimulated comparative analysis of literature and culture on a vast scale. Thus, comparative literature will satisfy the desire of scholars to study literature beyond national limits. The purpose of this study is to determine how different literatures may share similar features especially American and Arab literature. The process of comparison is a usual function of the literature. Hence, the study of literature is always comparative. To reach this purpose, the present article will first introduce different schools of comparative literature; then, the main theorists of this field will be discussed concisely in west and east. Then, to focus on the study of the Other , we elaborate on the theory of intersectionality.