French Literature Reviews - 2026

Unexpected Affinities: Reading across Cultures
Comparative and World Literature

Zhang LONGXI, Unexpected Affinities: Reading across Cultures, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2007, 128 p.
ISBN 0802092772

SUMMARY

East-West comparative literature is a field of study that has seen tremendous growth in recent years. In this pioneering study, renowned scholar Zhang Longxi offers a much-needed reappraisal of the thematic and conceptual similarities that unite literary and cultural traditions in the East and West. An expanded version of the lectures he gave as part of the Alexander Lectures Series at the University of Toronto in 2005, Unexpected Affinities emphasizes affinity over difference and explores the relationship between the East and the West in terms of cultural homogeneity (with shared literary qualities as its signposts), challenging the traditional boundaries of cross-cultural study and comparative literature as a discipline.

Throughout Unexpected Affinities, Zhang emphasizes the validity of East-West studies through concrete examples and a wide range of references not only to literature, but to religious and philosophical texts as well. Zhang insists that certain critical insights come solely from the cross-cultural perspective of East-West Studies, and that without going beyond the limited horizon of a single literary tradition, we will not attain the broad vision of human creativity in all its richness and diversity. Clear, concise, and very engaging, Unexpected Affinities will appeal to students of comparative literature and Asian studies, as well as to readers interested in the global implications of art and culture.

CONTENTS

1- The Fallacy of Cultural Incommensurability
2- 'Faire une perle d'une larme': Reading across Cultures
3- 'Within the infant rind of this weak flower': The Ambivalence of Poison and Medicine
4- 'A paradise within thee, happier far': The Dialectic of Return and Reversal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zhang Longxi is Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation at City University of Hong Kong.

Comparative literature as an academic discipline frequently navigates the tension between universal human creativity and culturally specific traditions. Within the broader field of cross-cultural studies, scholars often debate whether disparate literary and philosophical systems share fundamental commonalities or remain defined by irreducible difference. Readers interested in comparative literature and Asian studies may find it relevant.

Unexpected Affinities is an expanded version of the lectures given as part of the Alexander Lectures Series at the University of Toronto in 2005. The study highlights how cross-cultural perspectives can broaden the horizon beyond a single literary tradition. The work is grounded in concrete examples and examines the relationship between the East and the West through thematic and conceptual similarities.