This book, the first of its kind, can serve as both an advanced ESP reading-comprehension coursebook for EFL learners and an introductory reader in comparative literature, encompassing the latest developments and various areas in the theory of comparative literary studies. The texts selected for the twelve units include authentic but adapted extracts from the principal sources of contemporary comparative literary studies with an average length of 700-900 words, suitable for 90-minute classes according to the curriculum issued by Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology for the MA program in Comparative Literature, as a graduate subdiscipline of Persian Language and Literature. In most units, the text comprises extracts from different parts of the selected source that have been reorganized in the form of a cohesive, unified short text. In so doing, we were able to incorporate the main arguments or theses of the source in a short text. Thus, the texts can be deemed abridged, and not simplified, versions of the original sources. All the texts were made consistent in terms of formatting and punctuation, yet the British and American spellings were maintained, so that the students could become acquainted with their nuances in the academic register of English.
