One of the most contentious questions in contemporary literary studies is whether there can
ever be a science of literature that can lay claim to objectivity and universality for example
by concentrating on philological criticism by appealing to cognitive science or by exposing
the underlying media of literary communication. The present collection of essays seeks to open
up this discussion by posing the question's historical and systematic double: has there been a
science of literature i.e. a mode of presentation and practice of reference in science that
owes its coherence to the discourse of literature? Detailed analyses of scientific literary
and philosophical texts show that from the late 18th to the late 19th century science and
literature were bound to one another through an intricate web of mutual dependence and distinct
yet incalculable difference. The Science of Literature suggests that this legacy continues to
shape the relation between literary and scientific discourses inside and outside of academia.
