Thematic issues

Special Issue: Acta Comparationis – An Alternative Genealogy of World Comparatism
Published in Transilvania, issues 4, 5, and 6–7, 2025

This three-part special issue revisits Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum (1877–1888), the first international journal of comparative literature, in order to reconstruct an alternative genealogy of world comparatism from East-Central Europe. Edited by Anca Parvulescu, T. Szabó Levente, and Alex Goldiș, the dossier brings together contributions by members of the GLORC research team and invited scholars working on multilingual literary cultures, inter-imperial intellectual networks, and peripheral histories of comparative literature.

Across its three installments, the issue explores the institutional and conceptual ambitions of the Acta Comparationis project, examining its polyglot editorial practices, its transnational networks of contributors, and its engagement with translation as a key method of comparative inquiry. The contributions also reassess the journal’s global reach – from Central Europe to the Americas, Australia, and Asia – while addressing the tensions between its cosmopolitan aspirations and the imperial and disciplinary frameworks within which early comparative literature emerged.