Does anyone need the rhetorical theory of literature? The new various directions of the literary research are continiously appearing. Together with them, new perspectives of the research of the literary texts are opening up. They allow to ask questions concerning the language generated by them, with the use of which they shape the literary discourse. Being aware of the consequences of the linguistic shift for the research on culture, today the rethorical viewpoint in the conduct of the theoretical discourse is adopted. At the same time, the attention is paid to the phrases, style, as well as the metaphors used in the current literary research. The entire reflection is accompanied by the comparative spirit, that is, a certain transdisciplinary openness, which calls for abandoning the internal literary field by the theoretical research, and entering the wide field of the culture research. This process is especially visible in the new theoretical-literary directions (cognitive humanities, constructivism, affective theory of literature etc.) and enables to assign to the comparative literature the role of a binder of the taken discourse on the border between theory and rethorics.