The 17 contributions in this volume pursue a positioning of the philologies, which - based on the 'Volksgeist' (popular spirit) of the 19th century and the cultural studies of the 20th century - must reposition themselves in the 21st century. The contributions address questions such as: What changes are occurring with increasing globalization? Are national literatures increasingly being absorbed into the so-called "world literature"? The authors come from the fields of Romance studies, German studies and English studies. They deal with topics of literary historiography, canonization, comparative literature, and also questions of the future.
