Ben Hutchinson’s Lecture: Comparative Literature Between Tradition and Creative Renewal

Photo by Vytenis Budrys

On 27 November, Vilnius University hosted a lecture by Prof. Ben Hutchinson titled “From European Origins to Globalization: Comparison and its Discontents”, marking the concluding highlight of the twentieth anniversary of the Lithuanian Comparative Literature Association (LCLA). The event was organized by the LCLA, the VU Faculty of Philology, and the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, and was moderated by Prof. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, Dean of the Faculty of Philology and a member of the LCLA Council.

In his lecture, Hutchinson offered an extensive overview of the history of comparative literature and the challenges it faces in today’s globalized world. He reminded the audience that from its very beginnings the discipline has been bound up with a distinctly Eurocentric outlook, and that comparison is never a wholly neutral act – it is invariably shaped by power relations and cultural projections. “We're all contingent creatures of circumstance. We're always already compromised,” he noted, urging scholars to acknowledge this inherited bias rather than ignore it.

Hutchinson stressed that comparative literature is currently undergoing a crisis of identity: it oscillates between confidence in the power of comparison and the recognition that overly intrusive theoretical frameworks may distort the very object of study. “All literary criticism, to be sure, is writing about writing, but comparison is writing about writing about writing,” he observed critically, warning against the risks of excessive theorization. As an alternative, he encouraged scholars to pay more attention to the connections forged by authors themselves. “Literature itself is comparative,” he reminded the audience, drawing on examples from Goethe, Shakespeare, and Baudelaire. Authors, he argued, are the ones who generate comparisons in the first place, and the task of the scholar is not to overshadow but to illuminate this creative process.

A significant portion of the discussion focused on translation — not only as a form of mediation but also as a mechanism of power. Hutchinson emphasized that translation brings literatures into contact, yet it simultaneously reveals asymmetries between major and minor languages, shaping which works gain access to the global literary field. This issue is particularly relevant for Lithuania and other smaller literatures striving for visibility on the international stage.

Looking ahead, Hutchinson suggested that the future of comparative literature will increasingly depend on multilingualism, linguistic sensitivity, and principles of non-domination. Only by embracing these approaches can the discipline move beyond narrow national frames, open itself to broader cultural horizons, and critically reassess the still dominant Anglo-American perspective on World Literature.

Watch the full lecture here:

View photos from the event:

Photo by Vytenis Budrys

This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No. S-ACO-25-12.