Abstract

The present article starts out from a re-evaluation of the relationship between Erich Auerbach and Ernst Robert Curtius, concentrating on the years after World War II. The obvious differences in their biographies do not necessarily imply that their philological-political stances are equally «antagonistic» («progressionist» vs. «reactionary»). What they share is an interest in the pre-national medieval and early modern literary system - as described by Curtius in his book "European Literature and Latin Middle Ages" as well as in some of Auerbach's latest articles - precisely as a potential model for a post-national present. For these reasons, certain aspects of Curtius' "magnum opus" inspired Auerbach in a context which seems to be completely different, namely in his programmatic reflections on «Philology of World Literature».