比较文学始于流亡，而流亡本身，归根结底，一直引导着比较文学研究的方向。这个问题的确值得深刻反思。为此，本文特意考察德国20世纪三位至关重要的比较文学学者——库尔提乌斯、奥尔巴赫、尧斯。他们都有各自的流亡经历，关注他们著书立说的不同背景，尤其是当时德国的思想语境，将使我们更加直观而真切地理解流亡与比较文学的关系。流亡让奥尔巴赫与库尔提乌斯不得不在道德困境中挣扎，尧斯的笔下则显然没有这种困境。比较文学始于流亡，但紧随其后的不是审美的挣扎，而是道德的挣扎。比较文学或许始于流亡，但肯定不会终于流亡。
Comparative Literature does indeed begin in exile，and the nature of the exile itself guides the direction that this comparative research takes.And the question does indeed merit a certain solemn reflection.Therefore，the paper investigates three arguably most important German comparatists of the twentieth century in terms of their relation to the topic of exile，Ernst Robert Curtius （1886-1956），Erich Auerbach （1892-1957） and Hans-Robert Jauss （1921-1997）.It briefly elucidates the different contexts for each of these scholars' works so as to explain the German intellectual context in which the writings of these scholars were written.Exile made both Auerbach and Curtius struggle with moral quandaries，moral quandaries that are conspicuously absent in Jauss' writing.Comparative Literature begins in exile，and it usually entails not an aesthetic struggle，but a moral one.Comparative Literature may begin in exile，but it certainly does not end there.
