Georg Brandes and the Institutionalization of Comparative Literature

Georg Brandes is often cited as one of the founding figures of comparative literature. Why, though, did he matter so much, and how did he come to occupy such a seminal position? This essay attempts to answer these questions by relocating Brandes within the context of comparative literature as it was emerging as a discipline around the turn of the century. Tracing the major stations of his career, it considers the key arguments that Brandes advanced as a comparatist – in favour, notably, of internationalism and historicization – as well as the reception of his work on both sides of the Atlantic. From his major book 'Main Currents in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century' to more minor work such as his brief essay on world literature, Brandes consistently viewed culture as driven by the tension between local, national forces on the one hand, and global, international forces on the other. His enduring contribution to the development of comparative literature was to make this tension accessible to an international audience.