关键词: 比较文学研究, 语言, 文本, 问题, 方法

Abstract: As an open academic discipline of the modern world, comparative literature can be compared to a quadriga driven by language, text, problem, and method. A comparative literature student is supposed to master at least one foreign language, which will enable him/her to visit another historical cultural space-time. For this purpose, classical texts and primary sources apart are indispensable; additionally, due attention should be paid to subtexts and intertexts. One's research should be question-based, i.e., aimed at a particular research question, and in order to solve the question, it is necessary to develop a sense of history. Seen in this light, method (Greek “μεθοδο”, originally “going along with”) is more than a one-off application of “instrumental rationality”; it is rather a way of discovering the (ever-hidden) truth. Comparison therefore is not an end in itself, but a life-practice which entails and promises “knowing thyself”.

Key words: comparative literature, language, text, problem, method