# Toward a Transcontinental Theory of Modern Comparative Literature

Using Arabic, English and French from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries,Shaden M. Tageldin traces the rise of modern comparative literature to a new global regime in which a language acquired power in the world (empire) insofar as it held the power to capture the world "exactly" (empiricism). In the shadow of imperialism and empiricism, languages that once had styled themselves "incomparable"--larger than life--now were urged to simulate life: the really seen and heard.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2017
- By: Library Of Congress
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021690531/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021690531?play=1)