Încercări de instituționalizare a literaturii comparate la Universitatea din București, 1936-1948

The article describes the controversies surrounding the establishment of the chair and the appointment of a professor of comparative literature at the University of Bucharest, from the 1930s until the communist educational reform of 1948. During this time, comparative literature was at the heart of a protracted conflict between philology professors, who divided into two camps and used political support to impose their favorites. The article shows how the recruitment of university professors in totalitarian contexts depended as much on scientific criteria as on the political context. Also, polarizations occur not so much on ideological criteria as on seniority.