Abstract
This contribution explores the relations between the Czechs and the Germans based on the transcultural influence of the German nineteenth-century bestselling woman author Luise Mühlbach (1814–1873). It suggests that there existed a strong cultural transfer from one linguistic community to the other, especially in the domain of the book trade. Mühlbach’s works, as I will argue, were read both by Czechs and by Germans living in the Czech lands. The notion of ‘neighbour’ in this case adopts a double meaning: On the one hand, it refers to the inhabitants of the German lands, nowadays the neighbouring country of Germany. On the other hand, it points to the Germans that were living in the Czech lands: In this sense, ‘neighbour’ may designate the person that was living next door. The Germans, as is well known, have a long tradition of living and working in the territory that is nowadays the Czech Republic. From this tradition commercial and cultural networks emerged that enabled cultural transfers from the German to the Czech linguistic communities (transfers in the other direction might have also have existed, but it seems that these took place less often on the level of culture).
Stohler, Ursula