Q. There is nothing particularly new or crisis-like about this. Such attempts to situate literary studies in relation to social sciences are a commonplace of nineteenth-century thought, from Hegel to Taine and Daily. Illustrate what seems crisis-like is, among outer signs, sense of urgency, impatient competitiveness with which various disciplines vie for leadership. Illustrate what interest can this Gallic turbulence have for literary studies in America?