Confrontations and perspectives of comparative studies : fresh impetus to Czech and Slavic comparative thought

This paper explores the concept of intercultural comparative studies, assessing its importance for constituting the history of national literature. It lends Czech comparative thought new methodological impetus from two translations of foreign "introductions" to comparative scholarship: Claudio Guillén's Mezi jednotou a růzností. Úvod do srovnávací literární vědy (2008) [Entre lo uno y lo diverso: introducción a la literatura comparada (ayer y hoy) (1985)]; and Angelika Corbineau-Hoffmann's Úvod do komparatistiky (2008) [Einführung in die Komparatistik (2004)]. Guillén's comprehensive work surveys the condition of comparative literary studies in the 21st century, namely its shift from formalist-structuralist theories towards anthropology, sociology, the area theory and post-colonial studies. Corbineau-Hoffmann then does not go beyond the basic information about the field she considers not as a strictly delimited discipline but rather as literature (text) overlapping other kinds of art and cultural contexts. Especially valuable are her reflections on imagology as a comparative field of research investigating the mutual "neighbourhood" relations of myths and stereotypes through the study of literary texts. Both translations definitely enhance Czech theory of literature, although their editorial design fails to respect the vernacular tradition of Czech comparative studies of literature.