If the concept of World Literature, notoriously coined by Goethe, appears to us today as more of a problem than an object of study (Moretti 2000, 55), we can nevertheless easily empathize with the enthusiasm of the great German poet, reflected in his dialogues with Eckermann (commented on by Damrosh 2003, 1–4). In the context of his time Goethe envisions Weltliteratur as the dawn of a new era in the cultural history of mankind, a way out of the constricted selfcentred enclosures of national literary traditions, an escape from the worn-out comforts of home into an open space of free intellectual exchange with endless opportunities for enrichment, crossfertilization and inspiration.