Holquist et al compare/contrast

Holquist certainly gives us a lot to think about. I did not know that comparative literature was it's own field. It seems that all the work we do in the master's program is in some way related to comparing "this" to "that" in terms of what others have said about something and what we have to say about something. As it says in this weeks TSIS reading assignment, we have to make sure our sentences are related. But what is related in Comparative Lit? I do not actually see the need for a special comparative literature department or chair, but then again, I do not know a whole lot about what goes on in the inner workings of college administration. Based on all I know about high school administration, I don't even WANT to know what the head honchos at our campus or any other campus are coming up with. Holquist does present the point that "better comparison depended on deeper analysis of textual components (210). That is what we do in all the classes I have taken as a master program student! For me, Holquist does not succeed in convincing me that Comparative Literature is different than what any English major does.
Comparing literary works is a form of interpretation, and as Jerome McGann says, "The ideal interpreting agent can know the presence of the whole but never the sum of the parts." This is in direct opposition to Holquist, who seems to feel that comparing the parts is the way you find the whole. All in all, comparisons are a form of interpretation, and interpretation is the bigger issue, in my view.
Comparing and contrasting what a person reads over time is more than likely a natural occurance. Reading Siddhartha makes me think of certain parts of The Odyssey, so does that make me a comparative scholar? I don't think it does. I believe we compare what we read automatically, even if it is as simple as "I liked this book and I didn't like this one." That is still a valid, if oversimplified, comparison. But to interpret the book you liked AND THEN compare it to the book you didn't like is scholarship, therefore I think interpretation is more important than comparison.