The Poverty of Structuralism: Structuralist Theory and Literature

By Leonard Jackson

Book Overview

The Poverty of Structuralism is the first in a sequence of volumes which examine in turn the basic ideas of Saussure, Marx and Freud, and analyse the way in which they have been developed and applied to art, culture and modern textual theory. The text offers a critical introduction to the structuralist foundations of modern literary theory. It gives an account of the way such foundations have been developed, twisted and distorted to become part of the language that contemporary literary and cultural theoreticians use. It also addresses some of the fundamental issues about language and society that are presupposed by the often difficult language of modern literary and cultural theory.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0582066964
• ISBN13: 9780582066960
• Release Date: July 1991
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An excellent all-levels access account of structuralism

I studies for two semesters with this professor at Middlesex Polytechnic in London, and this volume captures the essence of a portion of a dynamic lecture series on the historical backgrounds of structuralism. Jackson's training is not limited to literature, and his engineering background is evident in his structural/functional view of literary theory. This is a great springboard for investigation into the work of de Saussure, Barthes, Levi-Strauss, and Derrida, with reading lists presented at the end of each chapter to guide further inquiry. An emphasis is placed on primary theoretical texts, rather than the interpretations of later theorists.The series is followed by a work on Marx, entitled The Dematerialization of Karl Marx, and a (yet to be published) volume on Freud, tenatively entitled The Descientification of Sigmund Freud.