Continued effords have been made to find a common reference, or universal terminology for eastern and western scholars in comparative literature since the very foundation of the ICLA in 1955. An obvious example is the preparation of the International Dictionary of Literary Terms, a world project founded by the ICLA in the sixties under the leadership of Robert Escarpit. Drawing on his personal experience involved with the project, the author analyzes some of the problems confronted by the project and the responses the international community of comparatists has given to these problems. Some suggestions for a better integration of literary studies at the world level are also proposed.

International Dictionary of Literary Terms, metalanguage of criticism, Robert Escarpit, André Lévy, terminological project, John Deeney, universal terminology, lemmatization, common references, literary terminology