Imagology in comparative literature : Knowing yourself from another perspective

Imagology in Comparative Literature: Knowing the Self from the Other's Perspective   Abstract:   The present paper examines imagology in comparative literature. Imagology is one of the most important and rooted areas in comparative literature since it is the foundation of comparative literature in France. Impression and influence which form the beginning of the French views of foreign literature depend on the pictorial knowledge of the other. An important part of this knowledge belongs to the culture of the "observer" and the ways in which he or she looks at another's image and in this view involves the culture in which he or she has inhabited. Thus, the present paper deals with the exotic images and literary stereotypes that have been created through the perspective of another. In the end, the paper draws on research on travel writing in the field of comparative literature by analyzing several travelogues. The paper will demonstrate that, at times, there has been misunderstandings about the subject in Iran. By analyzing and critiquing these examples, we emphasize that not every research in which there is a comparing of images belongs in the field of comparative literature.   Keywords: Comparative Literature, Exoticism, Imagology, Other, Self, Stereotype, Travelogue.