Image is a relatively new subject in comparative literature. However, it is not unusual to describe foreign countries in literary works. The early tramp literature and travel notes in western literature, as well as some translations of China during the May 4th Movement, can make people have a concept of "foreign land".

Iconology, as a discipline, should first position itself. "Image first makes literary historians doubt. The foreign image belongs to the imagination of a culture or a society. It transcends the original meaning of literature in all aspects and becomes the research object of anthropology or history. " This makes iconology neither please literary purists nor nationalists. However, even though iconology is facing a complicated situation where many disciplines meet, it still becomes an inevitable topic in people's research. Interdisciplinary is not only a difficult point in iconology research, but also one of the characteristics of iconology research.

The existence of image research in literary works lies in the connection between society and literature. "Literature is at least the expression of society, because through literature, we can decipher the illusion that a society produces on others." This is the theoretical source of iconology in comparative literature. Literature records the author's inner feelings, which are mostly inspired by external influences. Therefore, most scholars who maintain iconology don't want people to understand iconology as simple "sociology" and "national psychology". Lian Wenxue's description of foreign countries is only one aspect of iconology. However, only by excavating the "other image" in literary works and how this image was created and how it survived can the most "fundamental" problems of literature be revealed.