O dylematach współczesnej komparatystyki
Comparative Literature and Its Actual Dilemmas

Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of the essay is to evaluate the present situation and eventual prospectives of development of comparative literature in the context of relationship between humanities and law. Firstly, some considerations by R. A. Posner on connections of law and literature and A. Borowski’s reflections on his own loss of faith in the identity of the discipline as far as observations by M. Korytowska about the subject and organisation of studies in comparative literature are analysed. Moreover, the contents of the ACLA State of the Discipline Report (2017) are critically read and confronted with some contemporary Italian manuals of the discipline. The legal situation of comparative literature is discussed in on the background of the university ruled by corporate law. Furthermore, actual weak points of comparative literature are indicated, e.g. succumbing to pseudointellectual trends, lack of criticism of popular theories, incapacity to distinguish between important and trivial topics, weakening of research on literature for the sake of cultural studies, decline in knowledge and philological competences among scholars, regression in the interest in national literature. Finally, some insights on the meaning of a thorough knowledge of national literature for an expert in comparative literature are given.

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