Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S.

Commentary Module 1
2019-06239
Say It With Flowers
Thesis Statement: The instability of Comparative Literature empowers diversity, not

undermines it or weaponizes it.

I. Beating around the bush

A. What is Comparative Literature, really?

II. Taking root

A. Comparison tends to expose only the defects

B. We tend to juxtapose our political, historical, and cultural predispositions on

the new and foreign texts.

C. More questions about the Whats of Comparative Literature

D. Should we not focus on the Hows of Comparative Literature instead?

E. In the great conundrum and hassle of Comparative Literature, why do we still

compare?

III. Say it with flowers

A. We compare because we must.

B. Comparative Literature is integral to the development of cognition, identity,

and culture.

C. The instability of Comparative Literature is what gives it a solid identity.

Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S. Commentary Module 1
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Say it with flowers

Beating around the bush

As I refreshed my browser for the nth time, my mom walked up to my desk and

handed me a flower. She said that she had plucked it from one of her plants, thinking that it

reminded her of me somehow. I thought that, perhaps, it was the white petals that reminded

her of the blank white sheet of the Word document on my laptop screen. When I asked her

what the flower was for, she merely shrugged and said it might help me with whatever I was

trying to do.

I had just finished going through all of my readings and truth be told, I felt

overwhelmed with the staggering amount of ideas I encountered in the readings. It was as

though the theories and arguments propounded by the various seminal texts crashed against

and pulled away from each other in the ever changing tides of culture, literature, politics, and

humanities.

But instead of writing my paper, I continued to beat around the bush by inspecting the

curious little flower on my desk. I examined its gossamer thin petals that stayed sturdy no

matter how firmly I prodded, its subtle yet profoundly sweet scent, and the way the petals and

sepal were disheveled in an organized manner. And as I noted the flower’s features, I began

to notice how similar it was to the rose—the delicate curls at the edges of the petal, the

fragrance, the rough texture of the sepal, and the structure of the flower bulb. Upon learning

the flower’s name—Rosal—from my mom, I began comparing it to the rose, such as

questioning their likeness and difference and their botanical relations. I mulled over their

names, noted that the Rosal’s white petals were flimsy in comparison to the rose’s thicker and
Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S. Commentary Module 1
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more sturdy ones, found the Rosal’s fragrance sweeter than the Rose’s, and preferred the

Rosal’s open petals over the Rose’s closed off bulb.

Taking Root

To give Comparative Literature a solid definition, we should look more into its Hows instead

of its Whats.

It was then that I realized that what I was doing coincided with the principles,

methodologies, and phenomena that I have just read about Comparative Literature. In my

pursuit of pinpointing what makes the Rosal flower similar and different from the Rose, I did

not realize that I had made the Rose as my standard, in the same way that Hazlitt espoused

the tendency of comparison to only expose defects by making one thing the standard of

another (Brown, 2013). I found this idea reflected in my other literary pursuits as well,

particularly in one of the Literature majors I am taking this semester, Eng 14.

The course revolves around the survey of American literature, and to launch us on the

comprehensive study, we were taken right to the very beginning of American literature:

Native American creation stories. As if on instinct, I began comparing every Native

American Creation story to the Creation story that I knew by heart: the Bible Creation story.

Immediately, I began listing down the similarities and differences, such as how the number 7

was prevalent and sacred in both the Christian and Native American texts. Moreover, events

such as a Great Flood wiping out the face of the Earth and the image of the Earth being a

platform sandwiched between firmaments of water and abyss were common denominators

between the two cultural texts as well.

By taking note of the recurring symbolisms, themes, icons, and events, I was giving

life to Hutchinson’s (2018) words about how the most common form of comparison between
Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S. Commentary Module 1
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literatures is through the identification of recurring responses of various cultures to a certain

phenomenon.

However, this is not the only feature of Comparative Literature that was reflected in

how I consume and understand literary texts. I also noticed that in my comparison of the

Native American and Bible Creation stories, the way I worded my answers to our

comprehension questions showed a clear partiality towards the latter. It was evident that I

examined the Native American texts through the lenses of Christianity, and the same was true

for the rest of the people in our class.

This behavior was explained by Hutchinson such that we instinctively compare new

or foreign texts to those of our own or those we know, but we tend to juxtapose our political,

historical, and cultural predispositions on the new and foreign texts. I was more familiar with

the Rose, that is why I had it as my standard for what other flowers should look like. I was

more well-versed in the Creation stories in the Bible, so I had some degree of bias for it over

the Native American creation texts.

By behaving as such, I had unknowingly proven Spivak (2009) correct when she

wrote in Rethinking Comparativism that although comparison assumes a level playing field,

the field is never level, as it always boils down to the matter of judging and choosing. This

idea is also contingent with Hutchinson’s (2018) take on why Comparative Literature is both

a discipline and not a discipline. He wrote that while it aspires to be objective, it is still

deeply rooted in prejudices and predispositions.

Which brings me the tirade of questions that haunt me—and, perhaps, the rest of the

CL community. What is Comparative Literature? If it is a discipline, then why is it so

undisciplined? If it is not a discipline, then what exactly is it? Is it a type, study, practice, or
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theory of literature? What exactly is the focus of Comparative Literature: comparison or

literature?

Granted, we must also acknowledge that prominent comparatists and scholars through

time have succeeded in espousing and defending their own takes on the identity of

Comparative Literature. For instance, Henry Remak views Comparative Literature as the

study of literature that transcends the confines of one particular country, and it also inquires

into the relationships between literature and other areas of knowledge and belief (Remak,

1961). Sandra Bermann writes that Comparative Literature connects different disciplinary

languages and modes of thinking (Bermann, 2009). April Alliston believes that a definition of

Comparative Literature should include its multilingual aspect (Alliston, 2000).

But in Tötösy de Zepetnek’s critiques of these definitions, he wrote that there was a

cavalier disregard for the methodology of Comparative Literature. Which brings me to my

next question: when Friedman (2011) argued that the Hows and Whys of comparison are

rarely discussed because they are assumed to be givens in Comparative Literature, then

should we not be focusing more on those factors? According to Tötösy de Zepetnek: yes, yes

we really should. Ferris in Indiscipline (2006) wrote that due to the difficult task of

substantiating Comparative Literature, we resort to a series of examples or acts, such that it is

easier to do “comparative reading” than conceptualize comparativism itself. But what exactly

does it mean to “do” comparative literature?

In the great conundrum and hassle of Comparative Literature, why do we still

compare?

Say it with flowers

We compare because we must.

Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S. Commentary Module 1
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Friedman’s essay on why we compare resonated the most with me, as I found her

arguments and points succinct, straightforward, and easy to understand. She espoused reasons

not to compare, and then turned the discussion around by providing strong points that refuted

the reasons not to compare, effectively making her narrative convincing and illuminating.

When I made the Bible Creation story as my standards of comparison, I designated

the first man and woman created in the Native American Creation stories as their own version

of Adam and Eve. I was unknowingly reinforcing the system of dominance and cultural

hierarchy in the global scene. Friedman (2011) expounded on this with the idea that the

known naturally operates as the measure of the unknown, which immediately grants it an

unfair advantage in the comparison. Furthermore, in a world built around systems of

dominance, comparisons tend to be made in favor of the dominant values, standards, and

criteria. This results in metaphors, where the lesser known exists only to explain the prevalent

beliefs, values, or standards (Friedman, 2011). Eventually, this cascades to the

decontextualization of literatures, where the act of comparison isolates the literature from its

essential geohistorical specifics. (Friedman, 2011). For example, when Mary Daly compared

foot-binding in China and genital-cutting in Africa to exemplify the existence of a universal

patriarchy, she completely decontextualized both practices by disregarding their nature,

history, function, politics, and cultural roots; thus, producing an unreliable and skewed

comparison. I, myself, share a similar experience. For my final paper in Eng 13 my Freshman

year, I had chosen to write about menstruation and why it remains as a taboo today. To

extrapolate the point that this negative connotation was—and still is—perpetrated by

universal patriarchal beliefs, I compared menstrual practices in cultures across the world that

shamed and oppressed women. I realize now that in my comparisons, I misconstrued the

practices by selecting the social, political, historial, geological, cultural, and religious

background information that only served my purpose.

Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S. Commentary Module 1
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So if comparing cultures and literature bears such disrespectful, violent, and

borderline criminal consequences, why do we still do it?

Because if the act of comparing is political, so is the act of refusing comparison. To

refrain from any comparison does not make oppressive forces in society such as dominance,

decontextualization, and discrimination go away—it reinforces them.

For instance, the act of comparison shatters canons and builds connections between

disparate texts, traditions, and cultures (Hutchinson, 2018). Comparative Literature is the act

of viewing literature cross-culturally, where comparatists strive to establish the sharing of

common human values past the walls of geography, history, language, race, gender, and other

barriers (Dominguez, Saussy, & Valdez, 2015). As such, Comparative Literature questions

and breaks the standard of dominance and bias. Moreover, one of the natural mechanisms of

human cognition is comparison (Friedman, 2011). At the heart of analogy, the brain tries to

process information by comparing new stimulants to established knowledge and information

in the brain. This resonates, as I have learned in one of my English Language Education

majors, with how language acquisition works, where the infant brain sorts linguistic inputs by

comparing and grouping together stimulants that share common features and nuances (Lust,

2007). As Hutchinson (2018) and Arnold (Brown, 2013) propounded, no literature exists on

its own; how we read into literature is always in relation to other events, to other literature.

And as a result of this comparison, we are able to form a solid sense of cultural identity. To

have an understanding of one’s identity, it helps immensely to point out how one differs from

others. By looking at literature through comparative lenses, we open our eyes to a much

wider horizon of not only other cultures, but also our own (Hutchinson, 2018). We

understand how existing frameworks of plots, themes, and characters within different cultures
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interact with each other, eventually allowing us to form an understanding of how peoples

from different times and places live(d).

In short, comparative literature is rudimentary to cognition, culture, and identity.

These arguments are not enough to provide a definite solution to end all conflicts

about what Comparative Literature really is. However, with all of the ideas, theories, and

explanations cited in various seminal texts about Comparative Literature, there seems to be a

consensus on the notion that it paves the way for diverse fields of humanities to interact. And

with such a chimeric and diverse scope, the crisis is not within Comparative Literature;

rather, the crisis is Comparative Literature itself (Culler, 1995).

It is this very crisis that empowers diversity, not undermines it or weaponizes it.

I look at my Rosal flower, now in a renewed mindset. I appreciate its disheveled

petals, the scent, and bulb, as it is what gives the flower its charm, its identity. I look at my

Rosal flower, which turns out to be a Gardenia. I appreciate what Gardenias symbolize:

clarity. It is not something that we may achieve in the field of Comparative Literature in the

near future, or who knows? But for now, I acknowledge Comparative Literature’s intrinsic

instability, for this is what gives Comparative Literature an established, solid, stable identity.
Yambao, Crichelle Anne Mariel S. Commentary Module 1
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References

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Hassan, I., Bowen, Z., Weisstein, U., Campbell, J., Campion, D., … Yellin, J. F.

(2000).

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/40600339

Brown, C. (2013). What is 'Comparative' Literature? Comparative Critical Studies, 10(1), 67-

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Domínguez, C., Saussy, H., & Villanueva, D. (2015). Introducing Comparative Literature.

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https://www.academia.edu/9824553/Introducing_Comparative_Literature_New_Tren

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1-27). Cambridge University Press.

Muzaffar, H., Khuraibet, M., & Bahzad, F. (n.d.). 500 Theories and Methods in Comparative

Literature. http://drhanan.com/macomp/bernheimer.htm
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Spivak, G. C. (2009). Rethinking Comparativism. Project Muse, 40(3), 609-626.

https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/engl-218-fall2010/files/Rethinking-

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Tötösy de Zepetnek, S. (1998). Comparative Literature Theory, Method, Application.

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Studies in Comparative Literature, 18.

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Crisis

of Comparative Literature in the Contemporary West. CLCWeb: Comparative

Literature and Culture, 19(5), 1-9.

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3119&context=clcweb