The volume is broken down into four sections. Part I deals with some old and new aspects of Comparative Literature. We open with the late Sisir Kumar Das's essay from the 1989 volume. In this essay, Das looks at how literature extends beyond language. He shows that the Greek notion of syncresis, so pivotal to our endeavor is not found in ancient Sanskrit or Tamil literatures. Das makes the important point that we should all keep in mind when we think of an Indian Comparative Ltierature - the initial Indian literary context studied their own traditions. In another essay from the original Aspects, the late Douwe Fokkema broaches the epistemological issues involved in cross-cultural comparative work. He questions the legitimacy of the comparative method, a topic that is ever-more-pressing as the field's necessity is called into question by Cultural Studies and World Literature. The moral issues involved in what we do are often absent from discussions of the newer paradigms.