The publication of " La Vie derrière soi. Fins de la littérature" , which marks the end of Antoine Compagnon's seminars at the Collège de France, will be an opportunity to return to the "ends, the goals" of literature, questioned in his inaugural lecture: "Literature, for what purpose?" The discussion will focus in particular on the current challenges of teaching French literature, and thus on the place of literature within the humanities. The meeting will be followed by a debate with, among others, the students of the Master in Secondary Education of the University of Luxembourg.