On writing histories of literature. Some remarks from a constructivist point of view

Abstract

The article starts with a review systematizing the basic problems of writing histories of literature in order to establish the vanishing point of the dilemma. This review is followed by a short discussion of these problems within the framework of an empirical study of literature. The third part of the paper concentrates on lines of convergence in recent historiographical discussions. Finally some proposals are made for writing literary histories within an empirical framework: (1) Literary history should be conceived of as a history of literary systems; (2) literary history should provide a history of media, and (3) literary history should seriously take into account aspects of application and applicability.