H. M. Posnett

Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett was a New Zealand scholar who was a pioneer in the field of comparative literature. He used the word 'Comparative Literature' first time in english form. Posnett held the Chair of Classics and English Literature at the University of Auckland. His most notable work, "Comparative Literature", was first published in 1886. Informed by Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism and published as part of an "International Scientific Series", it explained the history of literature as occurring contemporaneously with social evolution, from simple and communal to individual and complex. Posnett's work was also much influenced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's concept of "Weltliteratur" ("world literature").