The book deals with the authors and issues at the root of French comparatism. History of ideas, France-Europe, 18th/19th c... Fauriel- Ampère- Ozanam; in literature: Denon, Nodier, Aloysius Bertrand, as well as the standard problems of comparative literature (unity of European culture, Europe's relations with the world) unity of European languages vs. unity of European literatures, periodization, definitions of the foreign.