Literary Relations or World Literature?--Views on the Definition of Comparative Literature and Related Questions

The definition of comparative literature includes the dimension of literary relations as well as that of world literature. In the comparative literature studies, world literature lays stress on the independent creation and internal unity of literature all around the world. It takes into full consideration the unity of the internal factors of literature such as genology, thoughts and schools, motif, etc, so as to discover the common rules of literature. The dimension of world literature highlights the purity and dignity of literature, and shoulders the mission of promoting cosmopolitanism. China is rich in the resources for world literature studies, and it has made great achievements in the formation of world literature concepts, the writing of history of world literature, the construction of history of world literature as a subject in Chinese language and literature department in colleges and universities, etc. A thorough study into these will make the construction of new theoretical system for comparative literature possible. 