This paper focuses on the long-standing problem of the relationship between the history of philosophy and literature by examining two recent publications: The literary history of philosophy by Christian Benne, and Il sole nero dei Lumi. Sade filosofo by Marco Menin. I will try to show how these two texts demonstrate, one from a theoretical perspective and the other through a historical reconstruction, the need to recompose the rift that has become increasingly deep in recent years between philosophical research and literary studies.