The presents volume is the first of a planned five-volume complet providing a broad treatment of the concept of totality as employed by philosophy, art history, theory of literature and other disciplines. In contributions from historians and theorists of verbal, film, music and theatre art from various departments of the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University, Prague, the book looks as art culture material, primarily from the Czech lands, and offers an interdisciplinary analysis of the various manifestations of "total" forms and frameworks accompanying the modern era.