ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book is a collection of studies which might be called 'comparative', not only because, in a traditional sense, they frequently are, but because, at the same time, they ask that term to find new bearings in a critical world which, for many, has outgrown traditional comparatism. Cross-cultural work in women's studies, in post-colonial theory, in cultural studies has changed the face of literary studies generally. The book discusses translation studies as the principal discipline, with comparative literature as a valued but subsidiary subject area. Within both translation and punctuation, pressures of gender can be felt, and negotiations of gender can take place. The sonnet has often been demonized as a patriarchal form, thanks to the practice of one of its founding fathers, Petrarch.
