Comparative literature, despite accusations of methodological vagueness, employs robust methodologies yielding concrete results.  Schmeling addressed methodological challenges, while Miner's Comparative Poetics, influenced by Étiemble, Wellek, and Liu, argued for the universality of the epic-lyric-drama trilogy across literary systems, differing only in emphasis.  Marino, using a phenomenological approach, focuses on objective parallels, distinguishing between historically parallel yet unconnected works ("parallel polygenesis") and those demonstrating influence.  The discipline's flexibility has enabled its survival and growth, as evidenced by Saussy's declaration of its "triumph."  Comparative literature's cosmopolitanism has overcome Eurocentric biases, engaging with world literature and redefining canonicity.  Saussy's positive assessment rests on the universality of human experience and verbal art, emphasizing the centrality of "literariness."  The discipline's focus on close reading and the study of literary creation and reception, encompassing new communication technologies and their influence on reading practices, underlines the enduring necessity of a comparative perspective for understanding the literary phenomenon.