EN
Abandoning its exact subject and methodological delimitation, contemporary comparative literature rather takes the form of intellectual reflection whose interdisciplinary linkage lies in the aspect of comparison. Among the major contemporary initiatives, the most prominent are two, known as the intercultural research and imagology. Whereas intercultural comparative studies explore interlocution between cultures through understanding 'otherness', imagology deals with the themes and motifs of the 'other landscapes' in literary texts, using its own and the other people's images. Such images mostly originate in the form of stereotypes and myths representing concrete social and ethnic communities. Thus both methods which exploit emotional experience in the literary communication can advance dialogue between nations (e.g. Czech-German or Slovak-Hungarian relations).