'East and West' and the Concept of Literature

Scientific Essay from the year 2001 in the subject German Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: none, Kyoto Sangyo University (X. International German Congress, Wien), language: English, abstract: By carefully comparing observations made by specialists in Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Western literature concerning problems of literary values, canon-formation, and the concept of literature itself, the author tries to answer some of the most pertinent questions in comparative aesthetics and ethnopoetics, specifically: Are literatures of radically different cultures comparable regarding literary values?- Do 'universal' literary values exist?- Do literary values remain the same within the development of one culture?- Does the fact that certain works of literature have been valued over centuries indicate that 'eternal values' exist?- Is the concept of literature the same in radically different cultures?- Does it remain the same within the development of one culture?- Are the basic genres (the lyric, epic, and dramatic) comparable?- Are certain analogous phenomena in Indian and Western literature indicative of basic similarities between these literatures?- Is at least the theory deduced from these literatures similar?- Is a unified theory of literature desirable?- Are literary canons established mainly according to perceived aesthetic values in the selected works?- If the answer to all of the questions above is NO, wherein lie the basic differences between Eastern and Western literatures?- (In: Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, Sambalpur University, Orissa/India, XXIV, 1-2, 2001, 89-125)

Wolfgang Victor Ruttkowski, Jahrgang 1935, war nach einem Studium der Germanistik, Geschichte, Theaterwissenschaft, Psychologie und Sprechkunde viele Jahre als Professor in Canada, den USA und Japan tätig. Seit 2003 lebt er emeritiert in Kyoto. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen in der Ästhetik, Literaturtheorie und -didaktik, Gattungspoetik, Psychologie und Kunstpsychologie. In diesen Gebieten veröffentlichte Ruttkowski zahlreiche Bücher und Essays.