Sorbische Literaturwissenschaft zwischen Ost und West
Sorbian literary studies between East and West

Summary/Abstract: The paper was aimed at attempting to define the place of Sorbian literary studies compared with the European literary studies as a whole. The starting point of the analysis was the distinction between the Eastern (Slavonic) and Western literary studies (mainly German), which was formed by the specific cultural and linguistic position of the Diaspora (Slavonic minority in Germany). The paper consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and includes the author’s attempt at distinguishing between “Sorbian literary studies” (i.e. all scientific publications on the literature of the Sorbs) and “Sorbian indigenous literary studies” (i.e. publications of Sorbian researchers). In the second part there was presented a diachronic outline of the history of Sorbian and Sorbian indigenous literary studies, Slavonic (Eastern) and German (Western) influences taken into account. The analysis resulted in a conclusion that the Sorbian indigenous literary studies may be divided into four developmental stages: the first stage (up to the second quarter of the 19th century) was dominated by the German influence; the second (from the second quarter of the 19th century up to 1945) was dominated by the Slavonic influence; the third stage (from 1945 up to the half of 80’s) was dominated by the indigenous literary studies, which developed at that time. The fourth stage was characterized by the growth of the importance and prestige of German literary studies and by the almost complete cease of Slavonic influences on the paradigms of Sorbian literary studies.

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