In 1993 Susan Bassnett concluded her book-length study Comparative Literature with the provocative assertion: 'Comparative literature as a discipline has had its day. Crosscultural work in women's studies, in post-colonial theory, in cultural studies has changed the face of literary studies generally'. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the interface between two of the most revolutionary writers of the twentieth century, James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges. James Joyce's work loomed large throughout all stages of Borges's oeuvre. A chronological survey of the numerous writings Borges exclusively dedicated to Joyce reveals a most impressive and heterogeneous catalogue. For all the pioneering and creative impetus of Borges's early reception, the reader may be surprised to learn that the journalistic papers he exclusively dedicated to Joyce remained dormant for nearly half a century in the dusty shelves of long-forgotten Argentine archives and have only been exhumed.