One way to look at the notion of literary systems is as a broadening of the field of Comparative Literature. Whereas Comparative Literature studies literature across countries, ideologies, languages, and social classes, the study of literary systems looks at
literature across paradigms (ways of writing about the world which belong to a certain mindset). In this way, the texts that Physicists, Computer Scientists, Essayists, and Politicians produce can be examined. Each of those writing practices — theorems, code, essays, and policy positions — involve their own peculiar system of literary forms. It is important to view their ability to convey meaning within the context of the system in which they exist. As an analogy, Espeth Aarseth writes:
"Instead of defining text as a chain of signifiers, as linguists and semioticians do, I use the word for a whole range of phenomena, from short poems to complex computer programs and databases."
Instead of defining
literature as the canon of novels and short stories, as literary theorists and authors do, I use the word for the wide range of texts which display a high density
of meaning.
