For a Post-Imperial Discipline: On Dora d’Istria and Hugo Meltzl’s Travels
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Abstract: The establishment of Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum (1877–1888) in Kolozsvár/Klausenburg/Cluj represents a key moment in the history of comparative literature, shaped by nineteenth century technological progress and the political fallout from the 1848 nationalist movements. This article traces the transnational mobilities of Acta’s two central figures, Hugo Meltzl and Dora d’Istria, and their impact on the journal’s vision of Weltliteratur and its polyglot ideals. While Acta sought to protect national literatures and linguistic identities, these authors’ projects remained paradoxically tied to inter-imperial frameworks. Using a materialist lens attentive to the class dimensions of their travels, the article argues that Meltzl and Dora d’Istria’s mobility shaped their comparative methods and ideological stances, revealing a tension between internationalist aspirations and pragmatic solutions that reinforced nationalist biases.
Key-words: Hugo Meltzl, Dora d’Istria, mobility studies, comparative literature, nationalism, Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum
Acknowledgement: This work was funded by the EU’s NextGenerationEU instrument through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Romania—Pillar III-C9-18, through the project A Global History of Romanian Comparatism: A Case Study in Inter-Imperial Comparative Literature (1877-1944), PNRR-III-C9-2023-I8-CF 22/ 27.07.2023, contract no. 760276/ 26.03.2024.
The author wishes to thank Erika Mihalycsa for the revision of the texts translated from Hungarian to English.
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