The crisis of the theory of literature in the last quarter of the 20th century can be analyzed under two main aspects: first, as a crisis generated by its object of study, described in terms of semantization and resemantization of the „idea of literature” (Adrian Marino), proven by its multiple cycles of being defined and redefined, but also a crisis of an epistemic nature, a crisis of “overproduction” of the literary sciences, of disruptive nature for the role and functions of this academic discipline, once central, within the related paradigm. This paper captures some facets/implications of the crisis and their role in the construction and reconstruction of the discipline due to Adrian Marino, Terry Eagleton and Antoine Compagnon.