The text of the famous Czech intellectual René Wellek, presented here, has as its main goal the challenge that Arthur O. Lovejoy formulates in his main text: "On the Discrimination of Romanticisms" (1924). Specifically, Lovejoy argues that "we should learn to use the word 'romanticism' in the plural. This, of course, is already the practice of the most careful and observant historians of literature, to the extent that they recognize that the 'romanticism' of one country has very few common points with that of another, and that in all cases it must be defined in distinct terms. But the distinction of romanticisms that I have in mind is not only or primarily a separation based on nationality or language. What is required is that any study of the subject should start from a recognition of a "superficial" multiplicity of romanticisms, possibly distinct complexes of thought, a number of which may appear in one country." This is exactly the position that Wellek explores, regarding the form of multiplicity that we should understand in relation to the realization of romanticism in its two main sources: England and Germany. [...]

(from the translator's note)