This monograph offers new insights into the fundamentals of literary theory. It synthesizes and evaluates research from recent decades, critically examining this work from a transnational perspective and with a particular focus on publications in English, French and German. The book is divided into six sub-theories that tackle problems of interpretation, fictionality, performativity and performance, intertextuality, genre and periodization. Drawing on texts from Classical Antiquity to English, German, French, Spanish and Italian literature, the book brings together a range of different scholarly traditions in different languages.