Studium raněnovověké zbožnosti a dějin literatury

This essay is a literary historian’s view of themes and concepts in recent works of history, cultural history, and historical-anthropology which consider early modern spirituality. It endeavours to demonstrate how interdisciplinary research may be useful in investigating works of literature in their social and cultural contexts. The article discusses research on the identity of confession, the dissemination of literary works, and the institutions that contribute to the dissemination, the possibility of our being able to assess private reading habits (including those of women and of crypto-dissenters) and the social stratification of literary production from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.