Interdisciplinarity In Literary Research: A Twenty-first Century Reality1

Interdisciplinarity, which emerged as a research methodology in the early 1900’s, had to wait until the early 2000’s to receive recognition, though not a complete one. Indeed, the twenty-first century has proven to be the appropriate ‘age’ for the adoption of this method, all over the world, in different fields of study, including literary studies. This is due to many factors, the most important of which is the constant change to which our surrounding milieu is subject. Our academic and intellectual life is thus affected by this change, leading systematically to a change in our research methodologies. Therefore, given its diversified and rich character as well as its ability to bring cooperatively together different fields of study, interdisciplinarity in literary studies becomes a reality, even a necessity. The focus of this paper will thus be on the necessity of this method for literary research and the fact that it is a reality in the current twenty-first century context because it is closely linked to the historical context. In other words, the present paper will try to cast light on the historical dimension of interdisciplinarity in literary research by stressing the relation between literature and history. It will also attempt to examine the advantages of interdisciplinarity, to investigate the existing obstacles to its ‘full’ and effective implementation in literary studies, and to give some perspectives, taking into account these obstacles, as to the future of this methodology