Abstract

The division of literature by language and nation has become so common that it seems to be obvious and natural. But it is not so, and moreover this not even a very old practice. But the national literary histories, apart from their political-cultural aims, are without justification since the history of literature in its themes, subjects and forms has rarely been confined to one nation. Quite large cultural areas exist, bound by space and time, in which literary phenomena are inextricably linked. This essay therefore proposes a coherent and unified treatment of the literary traditions of Eastern and Western Europe.