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This contribution provides an overview of the academic field of general and comparative literature in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland by examining it from two different angles: a historical one as well as a systematic one. The diachronic perspective reconstructs the sources of comparative thinking outside academia as well as the development of comparative literature as an academic discipline. The synchronic perspective addresses the most important facts and figures of the current situation of the discipline at universities in German-speaking countries and how it is structured, showing which areas are especially prominent in research and teaching. Finally, this contribution provides an overview of specific projects, which can be regarded as representative at present.