On the interdisciplinarity of comparative studies

For the past fifty years, the interest in issues beyond pure philology has been a watchword in comparative literary studies. Comparative studies, which by default employ a variety of methods, run the major risk – as the experience of American comparative literature shows – of descending into dangerous ‘everythingism’ or losing its identity. However, it performs well when literature remains one of the segments of comparison. In such instances, it proves efficacious in exploring the ‘correspondences of arts’, the problems of identity and multiculturalism as well as contributes to the research into the transfer of ideas. Hence, it delves into phenomena which exist on the borderlines of literature, fine arts and other fields of humanities, employing strategies of interpretation which are typical for each of those fields. This means that in the process there emerges a “borderline methodology”, whose distinctive feature is heterogeneity of conducting research. This, in turn, requires the scholar to be both ingenious and creative while selecting topics as well as to possess competence in literary studies and the related field.The purpose of the text is to discuss some basic meanings of interdisciplinarity in the area of comparative literature (that concerns both, analysed problems and the methodology applied). A special attention is paid to the field of so called „correspondence of arts” and to one of the principal rules of the discipline, consisting in considering literature a constant and obligatory element in the comparative reflection.Studia Europaea Gnesnensi