The Case of Literatura and World Literature

Abstract

The study reviews Literatura’s relationship with world literature and literary theory from its beginnings to the present day, showing that, contrary to the preface of the first issue (that promised complete loyalty to the political system), the journal has always been open to new trends in literary theory and history. It was among the first in Hungary to discuss Mikhail Bakhtin or postmodernism, and the first to publish in Hungarian authors such as Aleida Assmann, Jacques Derrida or Paul de Man. At the same time, the study points out, while providing a broad literary theoretical outlook, analyses of world literature tend to focus on classical rather than contemporary or genre writers.