The Life after the End
Abstract
For the 21st century, the classic literature (of the Antique, Renaissance, and Baroque periods) tends to be ‘old-fashioned’ that has been researched for many times in different historical periods. In this way, new literary frontiers and forms seem fragmented and dotted. Sometimes, the contemporary literary process has no systematical basement that enables classifications. In fact, the postmodern era has created the possibility to invent new aesthetic forms without looking into the past. However, sometimes we forget that, as Foucault wrote, we interpret the world in the forms we were learnt to interpret it (through the mental matrix—cognitive paradigm). We exist in the world that is a system that provides complex semiotic levels we have to deal with. The postmodern literature was a cultural project that neglected the heritage of the past, or, to be more correct, used the heritage without taking into account that that was a heritage. These days we are in the beginning of a new era and new paradigm oriented to return to the culture matrix. This paper is an attempt to highlight the new theories and practices of making comparative literature global, as it is concentrated on the problem of comparative strategies of how to ‘communicate’ to the classic texts (Shakespeare, Cervantes, etc) to integrate them into the post-postmodern mind. This article is based on the experiments of interpretation of the classic texts in comparison with the contemporary writings. We accept the idea that it is impossible to read and interpret classic texts in the adequate manner from the position of the 21st century. Reading Homer, Shakespeare, or Chaucer, we perceive their culture minds thought the contemporary cognitive matrix. Taking into account counterarguments connected with the fact that comparing modern and old texts we neglect the chronological adequateness, we still consider the new forms of comparative analysis possible.