The study examines texts by Julia Kristeva, Philippe Sollers, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Georges Perec, Italo Calvino and Roland Barthes, stemming largely from the 80s and 90s, with a view to essaying a tour d'horizon of an important transitional period in present-day literature against the background of system-theoretical considerations. It transpires that the apparent paradoxicality of the concept 'post-avantgarde' is a constitutional element in the self-reflection and self-description of a number of authors long established as major representatives of avant-garde groups such as Tel Quel, Nouveau Roman and Oulipo. The (self-)observations of these authors have a number of things in common. Their reflections on the historical limits of a-historical, formalist and self-referential theory-formation and the narrative practice associated with it, and the all-pervading preoccupation with the evolution of literary forms are crucial elements in their quest for an aesthetic program. This engagement with the historicity of literary forms is both a common denominator and a contribution of genuine originality, extending to a philosophical concern with the theory of the subject.