In recent years, the idea of multiculturalism has become a powerful - and controversial - influence in a variety of social and cultural territories. In the academic world it has influenced curriculum and scholarship in the humanities, particularly in traditionally Eurocentric disciplines such as comparative literature. The 1993 report "Comparative Literature at the Turn of the Century" - which endorses a multicultural orientation for the discipline - generated an unprecedented level of interest. The third such report on professional standards issued by the American Comparative Literature Association since 1965, it continues to be the subject of lively discussion and debate. At issue is not only the definition of a discipline but also the cultural function of literary study in general. This book brings together the three ACLA reports (issued in 1965, 1975 and 1993), three responses to the latest report presented at the 1993 MLA convention (by K. Anthony Appiah, Mary Louise Pratt and Michael Riffaterre) and 13 additional position papers by prominent scholars in the humanities.
Addressing the future of comparative literature, the essays consider issues such as the discipline's traditional Eurocentrism at a time of expanded multiculturalism, the role of foreign language study and of translation in broadening the scope of critical inquiry, and the crossing and remapping of boundaries between potentially comparable domains of professional expertise.