The following article aims to present the debate around the question "Que peut la littérature?" be-tween the partisans of commited litterature like Sartre, on the one side, and some defenders of Nouevau Roman like Ricardou, on the other. Some of the major arguments of the debate will be outlined in order to show that it essentially ends up being a conversation between Ricardou and Sartre, with the intent to sort out what issues are really at stake. Also the question will be elucaded why Sartre felt the need to return to some of his earliest arguments when he had evolved on so many points.