This is the official webpage of the research project “Towards a History of Comparative Literature in a Global Perspective: Matija Murko and his International Collaborators,” financed by the Slovenian Research Agency. In this project, we explore different ways in which to bring peripheral academic voices to the mainstream narratives about the history of comparative literature. We are especially interested in bridging the gap between close and distant reading and micro- and macro-history, which, we believe, can assist researchers in exploring unknown narratives in history of scholarship.
Research Team

Dr. Blaž Zabel
The project leader, assist. prof. dr. Blaž Zabel, has been researching the influence of Matija Murko’s work on the American school of orality (Milman Parry, Albert Lord) and has worked extensively on the history of comparative literature and literary scholarship (e.g., on Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Fernand Baldensperger, etc.). In addition to the general coordination of the project, he is responsible for the research of archives in Ljubljana, Litoměřice, and Cambridge, MA, and for studying the reception of Murko’s work in American and contemporary comparative literature.

Dr. Andraž Jež
Assist. prof. dr. Andraž Jež specializes in the history of Slovenian literary scholarship under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, focusing primarily on the role of collecting oral literatures for nation-building. In the project, he is responsible for researching the archive in Litoměřice and for investigating the reception of Murko’s work in the context of Austria-Hungary.

Dr. Varja Balžalorsky Antić
Assist. prof. dr. Varja Balžalorsky Antić is a specialist in the history of lyric poetry and Troubadour poetry, another form of oral poetry important for the comparative study of oral traditions. She also works on the history of the French academy and is therefore responsible for the research of archives in Paris, and for studying the reception of Murko’s work in the French comparative literature.

Dr. Jan Ciglenečki
Assist. prof. dr. Jan Ciglenečki specializes in Ancient and Medieval philosophy and the history of Austro-Hungarian orientalism and Egyptology. Since he is well acquainted with the archives in Vienna, he is responsible for researching the relevant collections there.

Dr. Alen Širca
Assist. prof. dr. Alen Širca is a comparatist and a specialist in Baroque literature and is responsible for researching the reception of Murko’s work in German comparative literature.

Dr. Nina Petek
Assist. prof. dr. Nina Petek is a specialist in Indian literature and philosophy and assists with the transcultural and transdisciplinary evaluation of our methodology throughout the project. She also applies the methodology to a small case study about the history of scholarship on the Hindu poem Bhagavad Gita.

Dr. Tone Smolej
Prof. Dr. Tone Smolej is a comparatist and Romanist (French language), whose research has been focused on the history of comparative literature, imagology, and thematology. He will be responsible for researching the influence of Murko’s early work on the development of comparative literature.

Dr. Irena Samide
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irena Samide is a comparatist, Germanist, and specialist in German-Slovene literary relations. She will be responsible for researching the influence of Matija Murko’s work on German Studies.

Blaž Gselman
Blaž Gselman is a comparatist with rich experience in conducting and managing large-scale archival research. He is responsible for researching the collections in Ljubljana and Berlin. Moreover, he organizes and overviews the archival research and analysis of documents.