Abstract
This article maps out the prevalent trends in publications about contemporary literature and culture with regard to their methodological grounding. It distinguishes three methodological principles (periodisation, heuristics and contextualisation) available to contemporary literary theorists who are trying to come to terms with the cultural shift they are a part of and are influenced by.
A large number of publications examined for this article uses periodisation as an underlying methodological principle. The article discusses the consequences that this has for the idea and image of contemporary literature presented in these publications.
Attention is paid to the critique of the use of periodisation as well as to two specific concepts proposed for the analysis of contemporary literature. Both these concepts (poetics of politics and affective dominant) are rooted in contextualisation, especially with regard to politics, but they differ in their use of the periodising framework.