74 Revista Brasileira de Literatura Comparada, n. 32, 2017 LITERARY AND CULTURAL CIRCULATION AS A CHALLENGE FOR COMPARATIVE LITERATURE José Luís Jobim 1 RESUMO: Breve abordagem de alguns aspectos importantes para a circulação literária e cultural, no contexto da Literatura Comparada PALAVRAS CHAVES: Circulação literária e cultural, Literatura Comparada ABSTRACT: A brief account of a few aspects of importance to literary and cultural circulation, in the context of Comparative Literature. KEY-WORDS: Literary and Cultural Circulation, Comparative Literature 1 In 2017 I have published a book (both in English and Portuguese) of essays about literary and cultural circulation, featuring contributions from the two colleagues here on this special issue, professors Helena Buescu and Zang Longxi. They consist of versions in English and Portuguese of essays exploring this topic, both in the form of case studies (analysing works and authors from various literatures and cultures) and discussions of theoretical issues relating to circulation. I am therefore going to give a brief account of a few aspects of importance to literary and cultural circulation, in the context of Comparative Literature, and would ask you to consider my intervention as an invitation to read the essays in those two books. To begin with I would like to clarify that studies of literary and cultural circulation today involve considering at least two things: 1) the transnational capitalist system within which literary works and cultural goods circulate; 2) the various modes of appropriation and transformation in operation in different parts of the world, which to some extent determine the meanings that literary works and cultural goods will have in each one of those places. In terms of the transnational system, it can be said that the current stage of what was termed “globalization” a long time ago has overcome the obstacles of national borders, and has managed to consolidate a kind of hegemonic vision, which establishes and justifies actions undertaken in our everyday lives and is consubstantial with the meanings derived from the systemic order, providing the wider frame of reference which our daily actions are part of. Bearing in mind that, as we know, hegemonies can have the effect of erasing historical meanings that previously existed, meanings that were or still are socially important, I would state that the first major challenge for comparative work, today, is a greater commitment to producing a type of knowledge that goes beyond the naturalization of prevailing meanings, including a historical perspective that allows us to better understand not only our present, but also the choices previously made, which have led us to where we are today. In terms of comparative theoretical work, I borrow my words from Marcel Detienne: “The choices made, consciously and unconsciously, by differing cultures are the comparables with which the comparatist works (Detienne, p. 186).” But what do I mean by this? 1 Universidade Federal Fluminense/ Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro