Contrapuntal Comparison

David Damrosch
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Abstract

The Eurocentrism of Comparative Literature has meant that non-European literary texts have been studied through either vague universalism or imperialist exoticism. What can correct, or complement, such orientalist knowledge is contrapuntal reading with local knowledge, to tackle cultural difference not as an anomaly but a fact to be analytically accommodated. Engaging previous theoretical work in literary studies and anthropology that have struggled with the Eurocentric foundations of scholarly disciplines, this paper presents a sample of contrapuntal reading by examining the 1976 English translation of Kālidāsa’s Meghadūta, rendered by Leonard Nathan, in the light of the 9th-century scholar Anandavardhana’s Dhvanyaloka and the extended commentary written by his follower Abhinavagupta. This comparative sample clarifies how contrapuntal reading with local knowledge can balance Eurocentric and orientalist readings of non-Western literary traditions.
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对比
比较文学的欧洲中心主义意味着非欧洲文学文本的研究要么是模糊的普遍主义,要么是帝国主义的异国情调。能够纠正或补充这种东方主义知识的是与当地知识的对位阅读,以解决文化差异不是一种反常现象,而是一个需要分析的事实。在文学研究和人类学领域,以前的理论工作一直在与学术学科的欧洲中心主义基础作斗争,本文通过研究伦纳德·内森(Leonard Nathan)于1976年翻译的Kālidāsa的《Meghadāta》,提供了一个对位阅读的样本,根据9世纪学者Anandavardhana的《Dhvanyaloka》及其追随者Abhinavagupta撰写的扩展评论。这个比较样本阐明了与本土知识的对位阅读如何平衡欧洲中心主义和东方主义对非西方文学传统的阅读。
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0.10
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发文量
38
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