Summary: The paper discusses some cognitive parameters of interculturality and interdependence which have become necessary for the understanding and interpretation of literatures at a time of increasing globalization. Advances in hermeneutics and rhetoric have influenced the theory and practice of comparative literary history as demonstrated in several successful comparative literary history projects of the International Comparative Literature Association. These could provide a new paradigm for the writing of a comparative history of Australian literatures. Walter Veit is Adjunct Associate Professor of German at Monash University and a former Director of the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. His publications include Antipodean Enlightenments (1987), The Idea of Europe (1992), Work of the Future: Global Perspectives (1997), The Struggle for Souls and Science (2004)and “Arbeiter im Weinberg” oder “Der ungebildete Missionar” (2005).
