This collection of essays takes on two of the most pressing questions that face the discipline of Comparative Literature today: "Why compare?" and "Where do we go from here?." At a difficult economic time, when universities all over the world once again have to justify the social as well as academic value of their work, it is crucial that we consider the function of comparison itself in reaching across disciplinary and cultural boundaries. The essays written for this book are by researchers from all over the world, and range in topic from the problem of translating biblical Hebrew to modern...